Mooring Buoy Installations 
Over the last week the Department of Marine Resources (DMCR) along with Marine Conservation Koh Tao and a number of Oil companies have been busy deploying anchors for mooring buoys and artificial reef structures around Koh Tao.

Wednesday Eco Koh Tao joined the crew from New Heaven Reef Conservation program to begin the deployment on the west coast of the island. The work continued the following days, tough work with the prevailing winds making deployment tricky. The main goal is to reduce direct damage on the reefs. Anchors dropped down on the reef can destroy years of coral growth in seconds. It's an easy problem to avoid and luckily this little island has some protectors to stand up for it. 

Nathan Cook says "A major problem around Koh Tao is the number of boats and the lack of adequate moorings for them all. In conjunction with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) and a number of oil companies as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) budget the Save Koh Tao group is endeavouring to alleviate some of the pressure by installing 45 new mooring anchors around the island." 

"In preparation for the arrival of these large, heavy anchors (10 -12 tonne each!) we have been helping to mark the locations where the anchors will be dropped in place. It has been hard work but it is an essential project, much overdue and one we hope will help to preserve the future of Koh Tao." 

Nathan and I along with two Crystal volunteers went diving to help out and take pictures of the process of placing the big concrete blocks and structures down on the dive sites. A small ship with a crane on it was hired in to help place the blocks in the water, and it all went on quite fast as soon as they started. All blocks are in the water now ready to get mooring lines attached to them. Pictures from this event can be seen here!

Mooring Line Workshop 
Friday 4th the Save Koh Tao Office hosted a number of supporters and volunteers engaged in the project for a mooring line workshop. Eco Koh Tao and Crystal Dive Resort volunteers joined Save Koh Tao in conjunction with a bunch of Oil companies to continue work on the current Mooring buoy project. At the workshop the chairman of Marine Conservation Koh Tao, Chad Scott gave a presentation on how to correctly prepare the mooring lines before we all got to work cutting, tying and getting ropes ready to go into the ocean. Along with free t-shirts and a tasty thai lunch it was all good fun, we all improved with our knot tying, and the 20 buoys donated by Chevron were at last ready for use. 

Summing up 2013
Saturday night we met up at Moov Bar in Mae Haad for this years' last eco-meeting held by the Marine Branch, a subset of the Save Koh Tao Community Group. Leader of the meeting, Chad Scott summed up the goals and actions for 2013, and had promising words to say about the current and upcoming projects. He mentioned particular success with giant clam nurseries, expansion and growth of our artificial reefs, educational projects with the local kids, release of sea turtles, and that land and underwater clean ups have so far given positive results. For more information about the organisation and the ongoing projects I recommend having a look at the Marine Conservation Koh Tao's website. 

This upcoming week I plan to do a Reef Check course together with Nathan and Crystal Dive Resort. I have waited so long for this opportunity and I literarily cannot wait to start. More updates and pictures to come. Stay tuned. Love & Light Kris