Gandytron, it's an interesting question you raise.
2007 a couple of us sat down and formed a forum, officially approved under the Phang Nga Tourist Association, for boat operators in the Khao Lak area. We encouraged everyone to participate and discussed issues such as clean-ups dives, beach clean-ups, mooring checks, placing of moorings at Boonsung Wreck, environmental considerations (rubbish disposal, feeding of fish), observing park rules (no touching, no harassing etc), limiting number of boats/divers at dive sites etc.
It was all great and we all agreed. The problem was that a couple of the biggest operators in the Similans did not want to participate and did not agree to following these guidelines that we basically set up for ourselves.
We tried to revive the forum a couple of times, but the result was the same. And so, many (most) of us continue trying to minimize our impact while others don't give a toffee as long as they make money today :depressed:
Karin
2007 a couple of us sat down and formed a forum, officially approved under the Phang Nga Tourist Association, for boat operators in the Khao Lak area. We encouraged everyone to participate and discussed issues such as clean-ups dives, beach clean-ups, mooring checks, placing of moorings at Boonsung Wreck, environmental considerations (rubbish disposal, feeding of fish), observing park rules (no touching, no harassing etc), limiting number of boats/divers at dive sites etc.
It was all great and we all agreed. The problem was that a couple of the biggest operators in the Similans did not want to participate and did not agree to following these guidelines that we basically set up for ourselves.
We tried to revive the forum a couple of times, but the result was the same. And so, many (most) of us continue trying to minimize our impact while others don't give a toffee as long as they make money today :depressed:
Karin