New industry requirements for the use of Thailand’s marine national parks are currently being implemented.
Following consultation with industry players last November, the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department of Thailand (DNP) set out measures, which brings with it certain restrictions aimed at sustainable tourism.
In a document entitled ‘Control Measures for Tourism Entrepreneurs in Marine National Parks – SCUBA Diving and Related Activities in Marine National Parks’, the DNP states the terms and conditions under which tourism operators, including liveaboards, day-trip dive boats and private dive boats, may operate in the national parks.
Most likely to feel the changes early on are popular dive sites, in particular the Similan Islands, Surin Islands & Richelieu Rock.
The requirement directly relating to divers is the mandatory dive plan to be submitted by dive operators in order to obtain a diving permit. In terms of the control measures, divers have to supply additional information, which includes name, gender, age, nationality, as well as diving qualifications and number of dives logged.
Indirectly, divers will be affected by most other requirements, including a limited number of divers on any site and no more than 3 dives per day, depth restrictions of up to 40m, closure of parts of the park at times designated by the DNP, speed limits for boats and mandatory training requirements for dive masters and other dive operations staff.
Liveaboards are restricted to no dumping of any waste in the park, including mandatory black water tanks. Maximum time in the park is restricted to consecutive 5 days or 4 nights.
Ultimately, the implementation of these measures aims to maintain the natural resources in the park and ensure visitor health and safety.
The result, it is hoped, will be sustainable practices that will enable Thailand to continue to offer some of the world’s best dive sites to generations of divers to come.
Click here to download the 9-page, 80kb document from the DNP’s website
To discover the splendour of diving in Thailand for yourself call Dive The World on +66 (0)94 582 7973 / (0)83 505 7794 or you could send us an email.