Maya Bay boundary installed to block tourist access
Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park head Woraphot Lomlim on Wednesday said officials installed tiny boundary buoys and red flags to warn tourists not to swim into Maya Bay, which has been closed indefinitely to allow a full recovery of the coral reef, mangrove forest and general ecosystem.
Photo courtesy of marine ecologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat (facebook.com/thon.thamrongnawasawat)
The move was because it was reported that some tour boats suggested tourists swim in Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi.
The tour boats could not come into the bay as boundary buoys had been installed to block them, Woraphot said.
Photo courtesy of marine ecologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat (facebook.com/thon.thamrongnawasawat)
With some visitors swimming at the site where 10,000 coral fragments were newly planted via propagation, the park resorted to the extra measure in a bid to protect the coral, which had grown well, and the blacktip reef sharks.
Photo courtesy of marine ecologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat (facebook.com/thon.thamrongnawasawat)
Maya Bay, made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio's movie The Beach, has been closed since June 1.
Since its formal opening to public access in 1999, Maya Bay had never been allowed to recover from increasing tourism until this year.
