In order to reduce incidences of structural damage to the coral reefs around Koh Tao, The Save Koh Tao Group and the Thai Navy will be undertaking an island zoning and mooring buoy project beginning in March of 2009. For the first stage of this project, 10 mooring buoys will be installed or repaired in the areas around the island deemed to be most at risk of anchor damage from dive boats. In the second stage, we will establish small boats tie offs, boat lanes, and ‘no boat’ areas as part of the island zoning project. It is hoped that by working with the local community for the installation, maintenance, and repair of these buoys that we can increase the amount of education and awareness about human impacts on coral reefs and reduce those impacts for Koh Tao. Furthermore, by working with the people using the buoys we can ensure that they will remain well maintained into the future to ensure project sustainability.

See the full project proposal here