THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: Each year hundreds of thousands of tourists to Thailand are lured to venture below the surface of the country’s magnificent coastal waters to explore the vast array of resident and transiting marine life.

However, while Thailand offers a range of choices for novice and experienced divers alike to explore the kingdom’s aquatic wonderland, many of those who do so leave behind unwanted additions to the seascape.

Last year Thailand marine officials found more than 22 tonnes (over 48,501lbs) of garbage dumped into the sea, most of it at the country’s famous dive spots.

Department of Marine and Coastal Resources chief Samran Rakchart, said his department had been collecting records of sunken garbage in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand and Koh Samaesarn in Chon Buri province had been found to be the  biggest undersea garbage dump nationally.

Mr Samran said the trash causes the death of many marine animals every year, with autopsies conducted on dead dolphins and sea turtles  finding all manner of junk in their stomachs.

It is estimated that 6.4 million tonnes (about 14 billion lbs) of garbage a year, or 1,800 tonnes (almost 14,000lbs) a day, is being dumped into the sea globally, with almost 90 per cent of the garbage being plastic waste.

Mr Samran urged divers and dive operators to show more respect for Thailand’s oceans and take back to shore anything they took out to sea with them for the day.

By John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for May 27, 2009