Koh Samet will open Ao Phrao this Friday

Ao Phrao Beach on Koh Samet is cleaned up and ready to open this Friday

Clean up from the huge oil spill has gone well and Koh Samet is ready to get back in business according to this article from The Nation

AFTERMATH
Ao Phrao to reopen on Friday after oil spill
Suriyan Panyawai
The Nation



Seawater off Samet has recovered sufficiently: govt

BANGKOK: -- KOH SAMET'S Ao Phrao, hit by an oil spill several months ago, will officially reopen to tourists this Friday.

Seawater-quality tests have confirmed that the bay is now ready for visitors to enjoy safely. Petroleum hydrocarbon, for example, has dropped to less than 1 microgram per litre of seawater, and mercury has plunged below 0.1mcg/l.

"The seawater started to return to normal at the end of September," Udom Kraiwatnussorn said yesterday in his capacity as secretary to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri.

An estimated 50,000 litres of crude oil leaked from an offshore pipe owned by PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) on July 27 off the coast of Rayong province. Because the oil spill hit Ao Phrao hard, it has been closed to the public since July 29. Ao Phrao is a part of Khao Laem Ya-Mu Ko Samet National Park.

During the past few months, extensive clean-up operations have taken place and the oil spill's environmental impacts have been closely monitored.

Chote Trachu, permanent secretary of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, yesterday announced that the ecological system around Ao Phrao was clearly recovering.

"We have found more ghost crabs and other animals on the beach now," he said, adding that affected coral reefs also showed signs of improving.

Chote said his ministry thus resolved that Ao Phrao should reopen to tourists from November 1 onwards.

However, he said monitoring of the oil spill's impacts on marine and coastal ecology would continue for at least one more year. An environmental-rehabilitation plan has also been prepared for PTTGC to follow.

"The plan, for example, covers projects to expand corals, to plant artificial reefs, and to improve Samet Island's wastewater-management system," he said.

Pinsak Suraswadi, a senior official at the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, said the plan would require a budget of Bt166 million. "We will charge PTTGC for that," he said.

A PTTGC executive yesterday disclosed that it had already paid more than Bt800 million in expenses and compensation related to the oil spill.

To date, PTTGC has paid more than 5,000 small-scale fishermen in Rayong after they reported that the spill had badly affected their livelihoods.


-- The Nation 2013-10-29

Oil Spill in Koh Samet Thailand

I found this article in The Nation today. It relates to Pattaya as Koh Samet is a popular destination for tourists and ex-pats. Very easily accessible from Pattaya. Really a shame what happened. Here's the article:

 About 20% have died in tainted areas: survey

BANGKOK: -- The state marine-watch agency has found that some coral reefs in the oil-slick-affected Ao Phrao area of Koh Samet have been killed off by bleaching, and some marine life had been reduced by up to 20 per cent.

The team's report was released by the Marine and Coastal Resources Depart-ment director-general Noppon Srisuk

When the oil slick hit Ao Phrao beach on the western side of the island, the agency sent a team to survey the coral reefs in 11 spots surrounding Koh Samet in Rayong province.

The team dived into the sea to depths of up to four metres to study damage at Noi Na, Laem Ya, Ao Lung Dam, Ao Kew Nha Nok, Ao Phai, Ao Look Yon, Koh Kudee, Koh Kham - Kruai, Koh Pla Teen, and the northern area of Ao Phrao.

Preliminary results showed that most of the intertidal zone had been tainted by the oil slick. The survey also revealed that about 10 to 20 per cent of marine life in Ao Phrao, especially stone crabs, snails, and oysters, had died.

The survey team collected samples of coral tissue to find the cause of death and estimate the percentage and scale of coral bleaching. The department was joined by marine experts from various educational institutes to conduct the survey and study the short, middle and long-term impact of the oil spill on the coral reefs. This team will take a year to survey the coral reef surrounding the affected island.

However, Noppon insisted no orders had been issued to close Ao Phrao for tourism activities.

Meanwhile, marine biologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat of Kasetsart University's Faculty of Fisheries, said he had also sent a team to survey changes to the coral reef in Ao Phrao last week.

The preliminary result of a parallel survey found that about 20 massive corals, located two metres undersea in the southern area of Ao Phrao, were bleached. Thon assumed this bleaching was caused by the oil slick.

However, he said his team needed to collect samples of coral tissue for in-depth analysis to confirm the real cause.

"At least we know where it should be closely monitored to determine further impacts of oil spills on coral reefs in this area," he said.

Sumet Saithong, chief of the Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park, said he could not say right now whether coral reefs surrounding the island and affected area were dead. During the past few years, coral reefs surrounding the island had been bleached already before the oil slick affected the island.


-- The Nation 2013-08-08