The waters around the 800 islands of the Myeik Archipelago in Myanmar’s far south teem with some of the world’s most diverse marine life and it includes somepreviously unrecorded specimens that may even be new to science, a survey by conservation and biodiversity group Flora and Fauna International has found.
The Myanmar-based organisation conducted the underwater survey over 11 days last month and it produced what FFI scientists say are astonishing results more than 700 different species of coral, some of which are living in murky waters where they were not expected to thrive.
The team trained in the Myeik Archipelago for more than nine months before the dive survey. During the 11 days it spent aboard a research vessel, it conducted 35 dives in an area covering about 4,054 square miles (10,500 square kilometers).
In the Lanbi Island National Marine Park in the southern part of the archipelago, the scientists found vast areas of intact coral reefs supporting an abundance of life, unlike further south towards the Thai coast where there was evidence of the effects of dynamite fishing and overfishing.
Sustainable fishing is being threatened because poverty has forced many fishermen to resort to illegal practices, such as using dynamite and overfishing, said FFI’s program director, Frank Momberg.
It is well-known that dynamite fishing is taking place and has done so for many years now, Mr Momberg said.
The dynamite fishing is organised mainly by criminal business but some poorer fishermen have also been taking up this practice.
A fisherman told this reporter that fishing boats from as far as Rakhine State in the north and from nearby Thailand were using dynamite in the archipelago’s waters. The ingredients for the crude, home-made devices could be bought in Thailand, he said.
Illegal fishing practices are due to a whole host of reasons including a limitation of law enforcement, poverty and generally a problem with overfishing, Mr Momberg said.
Bottom-trawling, or baby-trawling, is another fishing method which damages the environment. It involves using large nets with weights attached to trawl the sea floor and scoop up everything in their path.
Under international law, this practice is banned for three miles (4.8km) zone around the islands and for up to 10 miles (16km) from the coast.
But you see baby-trawlers everywhere nearby the islands and the coast, so there is a lot of illegal trawling going on, said U Zau Lunn, a marine coordinator and one of the scientists who participated in FFI’s underwater surveys.
Mr Momberg said Myanmar’s Directorate of Livestock and Fisheries, under the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development, was conducting conservation awareness and education programs.
But the issue remains a problem because of a lack of enforcement capacity, Mr Momberg said.
We have heard from the Myanmar Navy that the fishing boats sometimes even have guns onboard, so it’s not very easy for the fisheries department who are not equipped at all with speed boats or operation equipment and are not in a position to enforce the law, he said.
Meanwhile, FFI has engaged the Navy by training personnel on how to conduct research work.
So far, the Navy is the only institution capable of enforcing the law in the archipelago.
This has resulted in increased support by the Navy for marine conservation, Mr Momberg said.
The Navy has expressed strong support to gazette a marine protected area and to support law enforcement against illegal fishing practices.
But ecological pressures on the area remain.
Rapid and potentially, unsustainable, development poses a threat to the archipelago. Ominously, some tourist resort developers have hailed the region as the next Phuket.
The Myeik Archipelago has been large untouched by development, with only one resort.So far.
The Myanmar Andaman Resort, on Macleod Island, about 45 miles (74 kilometres) from Kawthaung, at the far southern tip of Myanmar, is an eco-lodge popular with dive tourists.
Sensing an opportunity to exploit the region’s awesome beauty, the tourism industry is turning its attention to Myanmar’s so-called untouched paradise and the results could be grim.
Adrian Zdrada, who spent three years as general manager and then marketing director of the Myanmar Andaman Resort, is now sales director of Hong Kong-registered Burma Boating, which provides sailing holidays in Southeast Asia and began operating tours to the archipelago last October.
Mr Zdrada said the sailing tours offer the eco-friendly and sustainable tourism that an increasing number of travellers are demanding.
Most businesses and tourists are aware about environmental degradation and they do not want this because the underwater life is a big part of Mergui’s attractiveness, Mr Zdrada said, using the name given to the archipelago during the British colonial period.
In March, the Associated Press news agency reported that work on a jetty and two helicopter pads had begun at Mosquito Bite Island, which is leased by one of Myanmar’s richest men, U Tay Za.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s Zochwell Group is reported to have sought permission to build a casino, marina, golf course and resort on Salon Island.
A new charter airline is operating between Myeik and Bangkok, with one-way flights costing about K140,000 (US$140).
The Irrawaddyreported in April that Union Express Charter Airline is a joint venture of Myanmar Union Express Aviation Group and Myeik Public Corporation. The report said Myeik Public Corporation, which was formed in 2012, also plans to develop four tourism projects in the archipelago.
Mr Zdrada said he was aware of plans for up to 12 developments, but remained optimistic that tourism could still be developed sustainably.
We still have time to avoid an apocalyptic scenario, which means there is still time to reorganise the industry the proper way, Mr Zdrada said.
But a lot will depend on the government and its intentions.
1998 – 2013 Mizzima News