Corals around Tachai Island, in the Similan Islands Nation Park off the southern province of Phang-nga, are bleaching due to the rising temperature of the sea water.
Paisan Boonsawat, chief of Phuket Marine Park Operation Centre 2, said that his officials had surveyed corals around the island over the past two days and found staghorn, hump and flower corals are bleaching.
He said that about 20% of the corals in water 2-8 metres deep have started bleaching and 5% are fully bleached adding, however, that corals in deeper waters are currently unaffected.
The temperature in shallow waters was measured at 30oC, he said, adding that a data recorder has been installed to track the changing sea temperatures.
