Dead Coral - Hin Daeng and Ko Ha

[ianto200]

In case you were wondering the answer was cold water being forced up from the deeper parts of the indian ocean probably caused by seismic activity!

Ian Shaw

Reefcheck Thailand

 

[MoonWrasse]

In case you were wondering the answer was cold water being forced up from the deeper parts of the indian ocean probably caused by seismic activity!

Ian Shaw

Reefcheck Thailand

Hmm...how about contacting someone at NOAA/USGS to see if they have any ideas about this.

The Andaman trench is a fairly active seismatic area, so that might be a cause. There have been reports of not before seen fish showing up around the Similans, and as I recall something similar happened about 10 years ago (i.e. upwelling of cold water from the Andaman trench).

And of course you surely know about the extra cold (for Thailand) thermoclines this year.

Mucho thanks for the update.

 

[Bowmouth]

Does this all mean that the warm orange sludge we had for months in a row reducing visibility to 1 meter (3 feet) no impact had on the reefs?
Also, did anyone notice the icredible increase of small barnacles all over the reefs this season?

 

[MetricDiver]

Has the situation improved? I had my cruise to HD/HM cancelled in April because of that!

 

[stevenl]

It looks like the situation has improved drastically. I have not checked it myself yet, but I've heard from others that the corals are recuperating fast, and all the fishlife is back to normal.

 

[Christian]

I remember strange cold water currents and very, very low visibilty in december 1997 in the Similan Islands. I always though it was connected in some way to the El Nino a few months later. Perhaps that was related to techtonic plates moving? Will be spending a month on Lanta in january 2008, so hearing that fish activity seems to be back to normal is very encouraging. Would be very interested in more first hand reports from Hin Moang and Hin Daeng.

/christian

 

[Batfish]

If anyone heads out there in the low season, it would be nice to hear how things look now. Bit too wet and windy right now, ... I spoke to the manager of Phi Phi Scuba who said they're not going until high season, but the last trips they did a couple of months ago things looked better.

 

[dm_junkie]

I was considering to check out the place in mid Oct ,after last year's terrible environmental behaviour.

Same goes for Similans.

 

[GoorglinGeorge]

When the season starts it would be great to get an update.

 

[Batfish]

I'm gonna try and squeeze myself onto a short liveaboard down there early in the season...