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| History of Marine Conservation at New Heaven |
| Marine Conservation - The History Marine Conservation at New Heaven |
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Since our dive school first opened in 1995 we have been committed to safety, professionalism, and especially the protection of the marine resources we use. We are a proud to be member of the Save Koh Tao Group, Greenfins, Koh-Taoism, and SSI ECOLogical. We feel that as a business we have an inherent responsibility to protect the area where we live, work, and play. And with the current global green movement we feel that it is important for businesses to truly be green, and not just in marketing. That is why we have dedicated ourselves towards marine conservation and social projects, our own and those being undertaken and others here on the island. Through the early years we hosted a wide range of visitors coming from groups such as Greenpeace, local and foreign universities; however our main collaboration was with Thai groups such as the Thai Royal Navy and Miss Cintana, known locally as queen of the giant clams. Working with these groups enabled us to gain important knowledge about coral reef ecology and marine conservation in general. Projects such as mooring buoy installation, coral restoration, and crown of thorns (cots) research was carried out, by these groups, here on Koh Tao and New Heaven was always there to assist and help make these projects successful. Later in 2005 we joined up with other dive schools through the Koh Tao Dive Operators club to promote awareness and construct a small Biorock project in the destroyed Taa Cha bay. After the group was dissolved we took over the maintenance and funding for the Biorock Project. By 2006 we were hosting and participating in all projects being conducted by the Coastal Preservation and Development (CPAD) Foundation. The CPAD foundation was a non profit American-Thai company with great ideas and innovation for marine conservation projects here on Koh Tao. These projects included reef and water quality monitoring, a kids swimming/diving program, digital mapping of the island, vegetable oil recycling and biodiesel production, instructor marine education during IDC courses, and much more. Unfortuntely the CPAD group ran into financial difficulities and were forced to stop the good work they had started on Koh Tao. Being so involved with CPAD we felt it would be a real loss to the island and to everyone concerned with marine conservation if the work stopped. So New Heaven took over the responsibility to continue the projects CPAD had started. |