Local marine conservation group Go Eco Phuket, a group of local divers and operators, proposes something different. They are teaming up with Pattaya-based Dive Tribe Marine Research and Conservation Company who have devised a method for drilling mooring points directly into the substrate.
Moving the mooring lines off the coral and into sand will reduce the number of divers making incidental contact with coral. It is a method that has already proven itself in other parts of the world.
But the Helix mooring system isn’t just about moorings, it comes as part of a larger reef protection package.
Last month, marine conservationist and Dive Tribe founder and CEO Gwyn Mills, along with one of the Dive Tribe’s marine biologists Dr Wayne Phillips of Mahidol University, spent a week inspecting Phuket’s reefs for suitability of the Helix drilled mooring system, as well as conducting a detailed reef survey.