There are 1.310 concrete blocks as it were an artificial reef has sunk by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resource in order to protect the marine life at Sirinath National Park. Deep down under 3.000 meters from the coast marked this area as a forbidden fishing sea area. It extends from Sarasin Bridge in Mai Khao in the North of Phuket 20 kilometers South to Nai Yang Bay.

Besides hoping for the artificial reef as protection and restorer of marine life in the sea, a future wish for that sea area will become a dive site in years to come also become another intention of this act. The project cost 5,694,000 baht as it was The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) has funded.

On Tuesday PPAO President Paiboon Upatising chaired the opening ceremony for the project, which is officially named ‘Artificial Coral for Her Majesty The Queen’.

Charuay Inchan, chief of Sirinath National Park, said coral reefs, which were important for the ecology of the coastline, had been destroyed.

“The blocks of concrete will protect and mark the 3,000 meter forbidden zone from those fishermen who use otter trawls or seines, which destroy the ecosystem,” he said.

News by Phuket Gazette