From 24 – 27 June 2005, Reef-World held a safe snorkeling and coral reef survey workshop on Koh Yao Noi for local communities.

This was a focus on coastal resources that act as natural barriers and begins a programme to actively involve locals in mapping and rehabilitation work.

The workshop was designed by Katie Newton and Anne Miller and taught by Yam (Kanaruj Ngern-ditsatha) and Joy (Songwoot Wattana-pan), Team-Teachers that have been in the REST/Reef-World programme since its beginning.

The workshop used local wisdom to discover methods of reef monitoring that were generated by villagers themselves and integrated their ideas into an accepted scientific methodology.

24 Participants from 4 Southern provinces of Thailand – Chumporn, Phang Nga (Koh Yao Noi residents), Surat Thani and Trang. Participants were from various backgrounds, all of whom have some interest in Community Based Tourism (CBT). Some were from Youth Groups active in promoting conservation of natural resources. Others had been working in coastal tourism from around the region and had had their livelihoods taken away as a result of the tsunami. Some had moved back to Koh Yao Noi from Phi Phi Island and were now looking for local alternative incomes.

Local reefs of Koh Yao Noi are not generally considered to offer world-class diving or snorkelling and are therefore in danger of being undervalued. This workshop was designed to introduce local reefs and show their value by teaching understanding of the complex relationships:

• between different kinds of live on the reef,
• between reefs, mangroves and sea grass fields and
• between our communities and these natural resources.

Survey methods were used as a way to focus participants on various forms of reef life and how to view them with personal safety and to protect the reef.

Safe snorkeling techniques were introduced as a way to easily observe different reef stories of cooperation between organisms. Reef-World neighbourhoods and reef stories were used to help identify indicators of health. These were mapped and maps were transferred to posters that were donated to the local secondary school.  

This workshop was also part of the Thai government's 5 year CHARM (Coastal Habitats and Resource Management) initiative. CHARM had donated funds to REST and developed a  CHARM-REST initative using Community Based Tourism as a tool for capacity building and education in the community. As a result of this additional funding, REST were able to provide staff that would work with villagers not only in Koh Yao Noi, but also several other coastal provinces. The CHARM project officially ends December 2007, however the work will continue through other agencies, and as a result of the commitment and activities of REST and the local community.

Since the Workshop last June 2005, these are the updates from the community: