Ko Tao (also usually Koh Tao, Thai: เกาะเต่า, Thai pronunciation: [kɔ̀ʔ tàw], lit. "Turtle Island") is an island in Asian nation|Siam|Asian country|Asian nation} and forms half of the Chumphon solid ground on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. It covers an space of concerning twenty one km². Administratively it forms a district (amphoe) (as of 2013) of Surat Thani Province. As of 2006 its official population was 1,382.[citation needed] The main settlement is Ban Mae Hat.
The economy of the island is almost completely centred on touristry, especially aqualung diving.
Ko Tao was named by its initial settlers when the island's turtle-like form.[citation needed] Coincidentally, the island is an vital piece of land for marine turtle and inexperienced turtles. Development of tourism has negatively wedged the health of these grounds however a breeding programme union in 2004 by the Royal Thai Navy and KT-DOC, a coalition of local aqualung diving centres, has reintroduced hundreds of juvenile turtles to the island's scheme.
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The island is well known for skin-dive and skin-dive, as well as hiking, rock climbing, and bouldering. The most popular place for tourists is Sairee on the geographic area, which has a white sandy beach of one.7 metric linear unit interrupted solely by a few vast boulders and a scattering of medium budget resorts and restaurants. Chalok Baan Khao, to the south of the island, is becoming progressivelyd more} widespread as an different for those desire to flee the crowds. A great several granite boulders, both in the forests and on the beaches of knockout Tao, attract a growing number of climbers.
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Ko Tao is less developed than knockout Samui and knockout Pha Ngan, but has become more and more widespread particularly with the mid-20s packer crowd in search of comparatively cheap aqualung diving certification. For the past two years the demographics of the island has seen associate degree age increase, with many of the guests United Nations agency initial visited the island over 10 years past ar currently returning with their families.
Diving conditions have improved dramatically in the past few years with the continuing education of locals by the dive community. The El Niño weather pattern of 1997 caused a warming of the waters which resulted in the loss of an excellent deal of the shallow corals close to the island. Since then, the recovery has been swift and dramatic. Ko Tao currently offers some of the simplest skin-dive within the Gulf of Asian country. And with help by island conservation cluster, Save Koh Tao, the island's environmental outlook is improving.
Tourism and development on the island has adult steady for the last many decades, with public infrastructure often insulating material way behind. Shortages of electricity and fresh water ar common, and both solid and liquid waste management is inadequate. For these reasons, visitors to Koh Tao ar powerfully inspired to conserve resources and select environmentally accountable businesses and Resorts.
As one of the world's most well-liked diving destinations, today additional attention is being centered on the negative effects of diving on coral reef health around Koh Tao. Divers visiting the island ought to be particularly argus-eyed concerning following the correct code of conduct for diving/snorkeling in reef areas, most notably not contacting the reef or corals in any way. Natural factors combined with over-use of some areas has led to associate degree increase within the abundance of corallivores like Drupella snails and also the Crown-of-thorns echinoderm round the island in recent years. In 2012, a Marine Zoning and laws Master set up was developed for the island and later become native law, however the positive effects of accrued management have nevertheless to be complete in regards to the health of reef areas.
Chumpon Pinnacle, a dive site to the west of the island has a name for different in search of each whale sharks and bull sharks. However, because of hotter water temperatures over the last year an excellent variety of bull sharks have migrated to cooler waters. The island is host to over 130 species of exhausting corals, and over 223 species of reef fishes belonging to fifty three families.
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