Maya Bay’s beach, closed last year to allow coral restoration and
beach recovery, could remain closed to visitors for many years. Maya Bay
is located in the Phi Phi islands between Krabi and Phuket.
The famous Koh Phi Phi Ley beach needs time for its ecology to fully
recover years of tourist abuse, this according to the Phi Phi national
park chief Vorapot Lomlim as reported in Khaosod English.
“Maya Bay must continue to be closed until nature has fully recovered. We expect it will take four to five years.”
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“Since Maya was closed off nearly a year ago, sea creatures like reef sharks and ghost crabs have returned to the island.”
He also reported that 23,000 corals have been planted by marine officials since the closure last year.
Maya Bay was closed to tourist on June 1 last year. The Bay first
became famous as part of the setting for the 2000 film ‘The Beach’
starring Leonardo Di Caprio. That fame would lead to a surge in tourists
and a rapacious local tourist industry that ramped up the numbers of
tours to cater for the international popularity.
At its peak Maya Bay, the south’s most popular attraction, was
receiving up to 5-6,000 tourists a day. Unwittingly, the tourists were
trampling the beach and surrounding areas whilst the boats delivering
them to the famous beach were throwing anchors over the side, destroying
the natural coral.
Initially the national park chiefs closed off Maya Bay access for a
period of three months but it soon became apparent that the fragile bay
was going to need a lot longer to recover. Officials reported that up
to 50 percent of the Bay’s coral was dead.
SOURCE: The Thaiger / Khaosod English
