Monitoring and assessing the success of an innovative collaboration involving seven decommissioned platform jackets repurposed as artificial reefs for the conservation of marine and coastal resources in the Pha-ngan Island area of Surat Thani province (known as the RTR project) represents a pilot initiative jointly undertaken by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Ltd., and Chulalongkorn University. The primary objective of this endeavor is to evaluate the efficacy of these artificial reefs, constructed from the abandon platform jackets, in terms of their impact on environmental and socioeconomic factors, and thereby contribute to the preservation of marine ecosystems along the coastal region of Phan-ngan Island in Surat Thani province.

          The initial survey to establish baseline data was carried out by the research teams from Chulalongkorn University, specifically the Aquatic Resources Institutes and the Department of Marine Science within the Faculty of Science, along with the School of Science at Walailak University in June 2020, prior to the deployment of the platform jackets as artificial reefs. Subsequent surveys were conducted in October 2020, approximately one month after Chevron Exploration and Production, Ltd. had completed the deployment of the jackets as artificial reefs. Additional follow-up surveys were undertaken at six-month, one-year, and two-year intervals post-deployment, occurring in March 2021, September 2021, and August 2022, respectively.

          In the project area's fish survey, a total of 56 fish species were documented. The variations in the number of fish species recorded in each survey were primarily attributable to changes in seawater turbidity which affected the clarity of underwater pictures taken by the ROV. Over time following the deployment, there was an increase in fish species diversity observed at the RTR site. Both the diversity and abundance of fish were notably higher in the RTR area and the coral reef reference area compared to the soft sediment area. While the fish communities in the coral reef reference area exhibited greater diversity than the RTR fish community, the fish biomass was higher in the RTR area than in the coral reef area.

Research team survey in project area

Carang fish in jacket artificial reef

Fish use jacket artificial reef for habitat