Tourism Management in Surin Marine National Park, Thailand

This paper analyses the management status of Surin Marine National Park (Surin), the effectiveness of existing management strategies, their adaptation to the problems occurring and the results of the adaptations. Surin is situated at the upper part of Andaman Sea, Thailand. Its reputation as the best shallow-water reef in Thailand attracts more than twenty thousand visitors per year who enjoy diving on the eight square kilometres of reef. Visitor management arrangements include a visitor fee, boat permits, specific activities management, a zoning plan and an information centre. In common with many other national parks, Surin faces management issues relating to this use and the capacity to manage it to protect valued resources. The current five year zoning plan is rigid and inflexible and makes it difficult for management to respond to changing circumstances. These problems contribute to concern for the effectiveness of tourism management. In addition, survey of visitor attitudes towards, and knowledge about, management revealed that visitors lack recognition of current management approaches. To address these issues, some changes have been made to management arrangements. A mooring buoy system has been established to better identify use areas and manage the level of use of sites. However, in the absence of a recognized study of the associated impact factors and effect of this decision, this plan may not be entirely successful. While the biogeography of Surin is well known, little is known about the visitors, their expectations or activities. More effective tourism management will require such information and its use to develop strategies to match visitor needs with marine resource characteristics while protecting the resource. Further revision of management approaches is also recommended

Management Response to the Tsunami, Surin Marine National Park, Thailand

Surin Marine National Park lies northwest of Phuket. Before the 26 December 2004 tsunami, its reputation as the best shallow-water reef in Thailand attracted more than 30000 visitors per year to the 8km2 of fringing reef. Visitor management included fees, permits, specific activities management, a zoning plan and an information centre. Zoning plan exclusion areas included the area of highest biodiversity and a coral bleached area (for natural recovery). While management faced many long-term challenges, it was generally appropriate for the visitation level and threats to the reef system. The tsunami demolished all park infrastructure and effectively destroyed the capacity to manage. Major tourist operators were reduced, currently, from four to two, although dive-boats were largely unaffected. The biodiverse exclusion area and the area most used for snorkelling (near the park headquarters) were destroyed. While tourist arrivals were decimated, rapid recovery is expected with associated demand to access unaffected sites. The problem for management is to re-establish an effective presence and define a regime that is supportive of tourism-recovery, but meets long-term conservation objectives. This paper documents pre and post tsunami reef condition, visitor and operator expectations of management and possible approaches to short and long term management

High Levels of Sediment Contamination Have Little Influence on Estuarine Beach Fish Communities

While contaminants are predicted to have measurable impacts on fish assemblages, studies have rarely assessed this potential in the context of natural variability in physico-chemical conditions within and between estuaries. We investigated links between the distribution of sediment contamination (metals and PAHs), physico-chemical variables (pH, salinity, temperature, turbidity) and beach fish assemblages in estuarine environments. Fish communities were sampled using a beach seine within the inner and outer zones of six estuaries that were either heavily modified or relatively unmodified by urbanization and industrial activity. All sampling was replicated over two years with two periods sampled each year. Shannon diversity, biomass and abundance were all significantly higher in the inner zone of estuaries while fish were larger on average in the outer zone. Strong differences in community composition were also detected between the inner and outer zones. Few differences were detected between fish assemblages in heavily modified versus relatively unmodified estuaries despite high concentrations of sediment contaminants in the inner zones of modified estuaries that exceeded recognized sediment quality guidelines. Trends in species distributions, community composition, abundance, Shannon diversity, and average fish weight were strongly correlated to physico-chemical variables and showed a weaker relationship to sediment metal contamination. Sediment PAH concentrations were not significantly related to the fish assemblage. These findings suggest that variation in some physico-chemical factors (salinity, temperature, pH) or variables that co-vary with these factors (e.g., wave activity or grain size) have a much greater influence on this fish assemblage than anthropogenic stressors such as contamination

Water quality and its interlinkages with the Sustainable Development Goals

Interlinkages among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lead to important trade-offs and synergies among the goals and their underlying targets. The aim of this paper is to review the role of water quality as an agent of interlinkages among the SDGs. It was found that there are a small number of explicit interconnections, but many more inferred interlinkages between water quality and various targets. A review of case studies showed that interlinkages operate from the municipal to near global scales, that their importance is likely to increase in developing countries, and that new SDG indicators are needed to monitor them. The analysis identifies many different SDG target areas where a combined effort between the water quality community and other sectors would bring mutual benefits in achieving the water quality and other targets

Managing the impacts of SCUBA divers on Thailand's coral reefs

While dive tourism enjoys continued growth worldwide, concern exists that it is contributing to the degradation of coral communities, biologically and aesthetically. This study examined the effect of SCUBA diver contacts with coral and other substrates. Ninety-three percent of divers made contact with substrata during a 10-minute observation period with an average of 97 contacts per hour of diving. Two-thirds of the divers caused some coral damage by breaking fragments from fragile coral forms with an average of 19 breakages per hour of diving. Fin damage was the major type of damage. Underwater photographers caused less damage per contact than non-photographers; as did male divers, compared with females. Diver-induced damage decreases with increasing number of logged dives and attendance at pre-dive briefings. Park managers can help reduce impact by identifying and directing use to sites that are resistant to damage, matching diver competence and site preferences, and alerting operators to dive conditions. Minimising impact requires dive operators to be proactive in promoting minimal impact diving behaviour. This includes selecting sites that match diver expectations and experience, and providing pre-dive briefings in the context of diver activities and physical capacity, and site susceptibility to impact and current strength