More artificial coral reefs installed off Thai eastern coast

CHON BURI, THAILAND, August 29 (TNA) - The Royal Thai Navy and the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) have worked together to install a new set of 200 artificial coral reefs off seaside Chon Buri Province in the Thai East in order to restore marine resources and the local ecological system in honor of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the auspicious occasion of Her Majesty's 86th birthday anniversary this month. Rear Admiral Pisai Sukwan, Deputy Chief of the Royal Thai Marine Corps, and Waiwit Sukmak, an EGAT director, presided over a ceremony to install the new set of 200 used electric insulators, contributed by EGAT, off the Toey Ngam Beach in Chon Buri's Sattahip area on August 28, in which over 300 navy officers, EGAT personnel and students participated. Rear Admiral Pisai told journalists that Tuesday's joint activity between the Royal Thai Navy and EGAT, the 4th of its kind, was aimed to be a solution to the decline and damage to marine lives and the local ecological system, caused by fishing tools, in Chon Buri, a high potential fishery and maritime Thai tourism province. Rear Admiral Pisai acknowledged that the joint activity, also in cooperation with other local agencies and communities, has successfully restored the local ecological system and the habitat of marine lives, especially the young ones, over the past five years, observed by the increased marine lives in the area. Besides, the joint activity, as advised by Her Majesty the Queen, was aimed to assist minor fishermen whose earning of income had been affected by the decline in marine resources. According to an EGAT report, it has installed electric insulators as artificial coral reefs seven times since 2013 off four coastal Thai provinces, including Chon Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Pattani and Narathiwat, which have restored the local ecological system, marine lives and have boosted income of local fishing communities. (TNA)