Earth Day
Sail Rock divers clean up of samran pinnacles, Koh phangan, Thailand
Our clean up of Samran started at 7.30 am where 10 eager divers had gathered to Clean up a group of submerged pinnacles 12 km north of Phangan. We had been given reports from local fishermen that a huge trawling net had been snagged around the entire dive site.
After a 15 minute boat ride we arrived at the GPS coordinates for the pinnacles. First in the water was Alex Arnold the owner of Sail rock divers to assess the damage and to formulate a plan of action.
Logistics and Dive Briefing out of the way we all entered the water and descended to the top of the pinnacles at around 15meters. The net looked as though it was choking the dive site, hard and soft corals where barely visible due to the amount of net. A solitary anemone fish hovered over the discarded net unable to reach the protection of the anemone trapped below. Many fish where cut free, but for some we were far too late. After 2 dives we are glad to say that 90 % of the reef and pinnacles were clear. We are now starting a weekly monitoring program of Samran pinnacles to ensure the dive site remains rich and vibrant.
A big Thank you to Neil, Steve, Alex, Eva, Caro, Eike, Tony, Amber, Bo and the dedicated divers who without your help this would not have been possible.
