Sea creatures in Thailand's Phi Phi Islands have been able to thrive in recent months thanks to travel restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Bamboo sharks, sea turtles and coral are gradually repopulating this archipelago, one of whose beaches, Maya Bay, was immortalized in 2000 in the film “The Beach”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. At the end of November, off the iconic beach, five bamboo sharks, two males and three females, are launched. Born in captivity, small sharks, with striped bodies and long tails, hesitate to sneak among clownfish, barracudas and sea turtles. A female lays eggs once a month. "The goal is that it remains to reproduce here and participates in the repopulation of the species", "almost threatened" according to the International Union for the conservation of nature,explains biologist Kullawit Limchularat, who is leading the operation in partnership with the Phuket Marine Biology Center.
Phi Phi National Marine Park, its white sandy beaches and coral reefs, attracted more than two million visitors each year before the pandemic. The human impact, the overabundance of motor boats, the lack of regulation on these islands, despite being classified as a “national park”, combined with global warming, have led to an environmental disaster. Maya Bay saw up to 6,000 people surging per day on its narrow 250m long beach. “The coral cover has decreased by more than 60% in just over 10 years,” notes Thon Thamrongnawasawat of Kasetsart University in Bangkok. In 2018, the scientist sounded the alarm and urged the authorities to close part of the bay, also degraded by erosion. The pandemic then plunges the entire archipelago into forced convalescence.
Since then, dozens of black tip sharks, green and hawksbill turtles have been moving in the shallow waters.
Whale sharks, the world's largest fish in danger of extinction, have been spotted off the coast.
“Everything suggests that there are more reproductions, especially in sharks which appreciate calm waters,” notes Thon Thamrongnawasawat.
As for the corals, "more than 40% of the fragments replanted in Maya Bay have survived, a very satisfactory figure obtained thanks to the absence of visitors".
But the healing will be slow.
At least two decades will be needed to restore the coral reef, warns the biologist.
Read alsoThe United States is still the leading producer of plastic waste in the world
Phi Phi is timidly returning to tourism, which is still predominantly local, although the drastic travel restrictions for foreign visitors wishing to visit Thailand have recently been relaxed.
And Maya Bay is set to reopen from January 1, after more than three years of closure.
But now boats will not be allowed to dock near the beach and will drop tourists off at a jetty far from the cove.
Tours will be limited to one hour, with a maximum of 300 people per tour.
The number of visitors will also be regulated on other key sites of the archipelago.
And beware of boats that want to anchor their anchor on the coral reefs or tourists who have fun feeding the fish, they will be liable to a fine of 150 dollars.