Devastated by mass tourism | The Phi Phi Islands promise to reinvent themselves

(Koh Phi Phi Ley) Aum dives 8 meters deep and carefully releases a young bamboo shark into the crystal clear water. Its mission: to repopulate the reefs off Phi Phi, a jewel of Thailand long ravaged by mass tourism.

The archipelago has been healing its wounds since the pandemic and the authorities promise to invent another development model there.

Time is running out: his famous Maya Bay, immortalized by Leonardo DiCaprio in the film The Beach and forced to close in 2018 to avoid an ecological disaster, must reopen on 1^er January.

Off the iconic beach, five bamboo sharks, two males and three females, are launched. Born in captivity, small sharks, with striped bodies and long tails, hesitate to sneak among clownfish, barracudas and sea turtles.

“They need time to adapt. We waited until they reached 30 centimeters to optimize their chance of survival, “biologist Kullawit Limchularat, said Aum, who is leading the operation in partnership with the Phuket Marine Biology Center told AFP.

A female lays eggs once a month. “The goal is that it remains to reproduce here and participates in the repopulation of the species”, “almost threatened” according to the International Union for the conservation of nature.

Phi Phi National Marine Park, its white sandy beaches and coral reefs, attracted more than two million visitors each year before the pandemic.

Environmental disaster

The human impact, the overabundance of motor boats, the lack of regulation on these islands, despite being classified as a “national park”, combined with global warming, have led to an environmental disaster.

Maya Bay saw up to 6,000 people surging per day on its narrow, 250-meter-long beach.

“The coral cover has decreased by more than 60% in just over 10 years,” notes Thon Thamrongnawasawat of Kasetsart University in Bangkok. In 2018, the scientist sounded the alarm and urged the authorities to close part of the bay, also degraded by erosion.

The pandemic then plunges the entire archipelago into forced convalescence.

Since then, dozens of black tip sharks, green and hawksbill turtles have been moving in the shallow waters. Whale sharks, the world’s largest endangered fish, have been spotted off the coast.

“Everything suggests that there is more reproduction, especially among sharks which appreciate calm waters,” notes Thon Thamrongnawasawat.

As for the corals, “more than 40% of the fragments replanted in Maya Bay have survived, a very satisfactory figure obtained thanks to the absence of visitors”.

But the healing will be slow. At least two decades will be needed to restore the coral reef, warns the biologist.

Regulation

Phi Phi is timidly reviving tourism, which is still predominantly local – although the severe travel restrictions for foreign visitors wishing to visit Thailand have recently been relaxed.

And Maya Bay is due to reopen from 1^er January, after more than three years of closure.

Nobody wants to redo the mistakes of the past, assures Pramote Kaewnam, director of the national park.

Boats will not be allowed to dock near the beach and will drop tourists off at a jetty away from the cove. Tours will be limited to one hour, with a maximum of 300 people per tour.

“Maya Bay was making us up to $ 60,000 a day. But this enormous income cannot be compared to the natural resources that we have lost, ”notes the director.

The number of visitors will also be regulated on other key sites of the archipelago. And beware of boats that want to anchor their anchor on the coral reefs or tourists who have fun feeding the fish, they will be liable to a fine of 150 dollars.

“High-end travelers”

Phi Phi must inspire the whole kingdom. The government now wants to focus on quality, “attracting high-end travelers, rather than large numbers of visitors.”

It is up to local businesses to adapt. “We need income from tourism, but we also need to educate. We all understood that with the pandemic, ”said Sirithon Thamrongnawasawat, vice president of sustainable development at Singha Estate.

The group, owner of a 200-room hotel on the island, has built a marine center dedicated to the archipelago’s ecosystem and is financing several projects, the replanting of corals, the breeding of bamboo sharks and of clownfish then released into the sea.

The first foreign visitors to return to the region seem delighted with this new approach.

“We didn’t just come to dive into the turquoise water. We also want to help, ”says Franck, before taking part in cleaning up the neighboring mangrove swamp. “It would be great if the island remained so depopulated.”

But the 2,500 inhabitants of the archipelago have seen their incomes collapse with the pandemic and hope to see customers return quickly.

Pailin Naowabutr has been skimming the waters of Phi Phi for seven years to transport tourists aboard his longtail boat.

“Before COVID-19, I was making $ 30 a day. I had to stop and do odd jobs for less than $ 10 ”.

The sailor went back to sea a short time ago. He stares nostalgically at the horizon, heading for Phuket, the big sister an hour away by speedboat that welcomed millions of tourists before the crisis.

“They will be back soon, everyone wants to visit Phi Phi,” he says.

But the Omicron variant, which has already forced several countries to barricade themselves again, could ruin its hopes… and still give marine fauna a little breathing room.