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Save Koh Tao Marine Branch |
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The Marine Branch is a subset of the Save Koh Tao Community Group. Similar to the main group, the Marine Branch is a coalition of Thai and foreign locals and business owners and community members from Koh Tao. All local land, marine, and education projects developed and initiated through the group are chosen by the community members and funded through private donations, merchandise sales, and fund raising events. The projects carried out through the group are done by volunteers from participating local dive schools and businesses. If you would like to help out, sign up through a participating local dive school or come to the monthly meetings held on the 5th of every month at the Moov Bar in Mae Haad, 7pm. Marine conservation is vital for the long-term sustainability of Koh Tao’s economy and environment. This site describes the background and future goals of the SKT Marine Branch for the island of Koh Tao, be sure to explore our projects pages for current information. If you would like more information on the goals and projects for this year download The Marine Branch Program Outline 2010 which gives a very detailed overview of the program.
We believe in the free sharing of all information that can be helpful to others. Please feel free to browse around the publications section and let us know what you think.
If you have anything to contribute to this site, or would like to add your project to it, please contact us. Recent News
The Next Meeting for the Marine branch of Save Koh Tao will be on March 5th, 7pm at the Moov Bar in Mae Haad. At these meetings we outline activities for the upcoming month and give updates on the on-going projects, if you miss the meeting you can download the presentation and summary on the publications page.
The following is a partial list of the standards that schools must adopt to be affiliated with the Save Koh Tao Marine Branch: - Adopt a Reef Site or contribute to ongoing research and restoration projects
- Instruct all boat and shop employees as to proper safety and environmental care techniques
- Participate and donate boats, divers, or equipment to at least 60% of the Save Koh Tao Marine Branch monthly clean-up events.
- Attend at least 60% of the Marine Branch Monthly meetings
- Provide recycling at dive school and from the boats (including batteries)
- No fishing, spear fishing, or collecting of organisms from dive boats
The following dive schools have fulfilled these criteria for the 2nd half of 2011: Bans DivingBig Blue DivingBig BubbleBlacktip Dive Resort
Crystal Dive Resort/Eco Koh TaoKoh Exist
Master Divers
New Heaven Dive SchoolSunshine DiversWe also owe a special thank you to all of our partners and sponsors from The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Mohidol University International College PADI Project Aware Prince of Songkla Univerisity and CBiPT Scuba Schools International (SSI) |
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Save Koh Tao Marine BranchGet ready for the 3rd annual Save Koh Tao Earth Day Film Festival. Each year we show case some of the top films made on our island, about our island in celebration of global Earth Day on April 22nd. All videographers, professional and novice, are welcome to submit an entry for review. In addition to movies we also provide a great atmosphere, dinner, and prize giveaways. Previous submissions and winners can be found on our website under films.
Update for the 2011 seasonDownload the 2011 Newsletter, contained is up to date information about all of our current projects and activities, as well as pictures of events from last year. Please be sure to support our partners listed in the back of the newsletter in return for their continued commitment to our goals!
The Marine Branch of Save Koh Tao is a collaboration of local businesses and community members that are working to solve the problems faced by our reefs, and share a philosophy of sustainable development and tourism. We hope to study, protect, and restore the reefs around Koh Tao so that there beauty and function will be maintained into the future. After a very successful year in 2008, the Marine Branch of the Save Koh Tao Group will be back in action starting in January of 2009. Last year, about 20 of the island’s dive schools joined together on many social and environmental projects including:
• performing monthly land/underwater clean-ups
• planting trees and grasses on the island
• constructing a sea turtle headstarting and release program
• performing reef checks and water testing around the island
• educated divers and tourists about threats to coral reefs
• built a Biorock© alternative dive site and coral restoration site
• and much more . . .
Things moved along great in the first year due to the strong community support from local businesses and dive schools, community members, and international volunteers. This year we hope to increase both the size and number of projects we undertake and increase the amount of local involvement and cooperation in the projects. We will be continuing all of last years projects, but also adding on:
• Reef zoning and mooring buoy installation/maintenance
• Giant clam nursery
• Mid-water coral nurseries
• Increasing the Ecological Monitoring Program
• Building more artificial reef structures (including a new Biorock©)
• Working with the local school
• And promoting sustainable business practices amongst participants in our programs
Last year showed just how strong how local community could be by working together, and this year we hope to push those bounds even farther.
Thank you to all of the schools/groups that helped with last year’s projects!!!
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