Mergui Archipelago
Encyclopedia
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
in far southern Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
(Burma). It consists of more than 800 island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
s, varying in size from very small to hundreds of square kilometres, all lying in the Andaman Sea
Andaman Sea
The Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
off the western shore of the Malay Peninsula
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...
near its landward (northern) end where it joins the rest of Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
. Occasionally the islands are referred to as the Pashu Islands because the Malay inhabitants are locally called Pashu. A five-star casino and golf resort, the Andaman Club
Andaman Club
Andaman Club is a five-star island casino and golf resort in Burma. It is located on 730 ha of Thahtay Kyun Island within the Mergui Archipelago in the Andaman Sea. Directly adjacent to Ranong, in the south of Thailand and to King Bayint Nbung is a region famous for its gems, pearls, flora...
now operates on Thahtay Kyun Island
Thahtay Kyun Island
Thahtay Kyun Island, also known as Son Island, is a small Burmese island within the Mergui Archipelago in the Andaman Sea. The island is directly adjacent to Ranong, a city in the south of Thailand and to King Bayint Nbung . The island has been given by the Burmese Government on a long term...
.
Environment
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. They are generally covered with thick tropical growth, including rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
, and their shorelines are punctuated by beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es, rocky headland
Headlands and bays
Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...
s, and in some places, mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
swamps. Offshore are extensive coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
s.
The archipelago's virtual isolation from most of mankind's influence on the natural environment has given the islands and the surrounding waters of the Andaman Sea
Andaman Sea
The Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
a great diversity of flora and fauna, contributing to the region's growing popularity as a diving destination.
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
s, tropical birds including hornbills, and wild swine. There are even unconfirmed reports of Sumatran rhinoceros
Sumatran Rhinoceros
The Sumatran Rhinoceros is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It is the only extant species of the genus Dicerorhinus. It is the smallest rhinoceros, although is still a large mammal. This rhino stands high at the shoulder, with a head-and-body length of ...
on Lampi, one of the bigger islands, but this has been widely discredited.
Overfishing
Overfishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans....
and also blast fishing
Blast fishing
Blast fishing or dynamite fishing is the practice of using explosives to stun or kill schools of fish for easy collection. This often illegal practice can be extremely destructive to the surrounding ecosystem, as the explosion often destroys the underlying habitat that supports the fish...
. Burma's current military government
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
, the "State Peace and Development Council
State Peace and Development Council
The State Peace and Development Council was the official name of the military regime of Burma , which seized power in 1988. On 30 March 2011, Senior General Than Shwe signed a decree to officially dissolve the Council....
", has not done much to deal with these problems.
Geography
The largest and highest island is King Island across the inland channel from Mergui (Myeik)Mergui
Myeik is a city in Tanintharyi Division in Myanmar , located in the extreme south of the country on the coast of an island on the Andaman Sea. the estimated population was over 209,000. The area inland from the city is a major smuggling corridor into Thailand.-History:Myeik was the southernmost...
.
Population
The local people are an ethnic minority called the MokenMoken
The Moken , are an Austronesian ethnic group with about 2,000 to 3,000 members who maintain a nomadic, sea-based culture. They speak their own language which belongs to the Austronesian language family.-Nomenclature:They refer to themselves as Moken...
, sometimes known as sea Gypsies
Sea Gypsies
Sea Gypsies may refer to:In geography, it can refer to any of several groups in southeast Asia:* Bajau, an indigenous ethnic group residing in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and parts of Sarawak, sometimes including the people who speak Makassar, and Bugis.* Moken,...
, although this term actually covers several groups in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. They are a sea-dwelling people and they follow a traditional way of life, doing things such as fishing and building boats very much the way they have been done for centuries. They can be found living on their traditional boats during the dry season, but usually keep to land in the rainy season.
Tourism
The area was only opened up to foreign tourism in 1997 after negotiations between Burma and dive operators from PhuketPhuket Province
Phuket , formerly known as Thalang and, in Western sources, Junk Ceylon , is one of the southern provinces of Thailand...
in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. The archipelago's isolation is such that much of it has not even yet been thoroughly explored.
Owing to the archipelago's remoteness, a live aboard cruise is the only way for visitors to go diving
Underwater diving
Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater, either with breathing apparatus or by breath-holding .Recreational diving is a popular activity...
in areas with names such as Big Bank, Rainbow Reef or Silvertip Bank. Some islands have huge boulders, soft corals and sea fan
Sea fan
A gorgonian, also known as sea whip or sea fan, is an order of sessile colonial cnidarian found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the tropics and subtropics. Gorgonians are similar to the sea pen, another soft coral. Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are normally erect,...
s. Others offer wall diving, caverns, tunnels and drop-offs.
Dive sites such as Shark Cave feature grey reef
Gray reef shark
The grey reef shark is a species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae. One of the most common reef sharks in the Indo-Pacific, it is found as far east as Easter Island and as far west as South Africa. This species is most often seen in shallow water near the drop-offs of coral reefs...
, bull
Bull shark
The bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, also known as Zambezi shark or unofficially known as Zambi in Africa and Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a shark common worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers...
, nurse
Nurse shark
The nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum, sometimes referred to as the Nur Shark is a shark in the nurse sharks family, the only member of its genus Ginglymostoma...
and whale shark
Whale shark
The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow-moving filter feeding shark, the largest extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of and a weight of more than , but unconfirmed claims report considerably larger whale sharks...
s. Black Rock has manta ray
Manta ray
The manta ray is the largest species of the rays. The largest known specimen was more than across, with a weight of about . It ranges throughout waters of the world, typically around coral reefs...
s and schools of mobula
Mobula
Mobula is a genus of ray in the family Myliobatidae . Their appearance is similar to that of Manta rays, which are in the same family. The Devil fish can attain a disc width of up to 5.2 meters and can probably weigh over a ton, second only to the Manta in size...
(devil) rays. Photographers are attracted by frogfish
Frogfish
Frogfishes, family Antennariidae, are a type of anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes. They are known as anglerfishes in Australia, where 'frogfish' refers to a different type of fish...
, ghost pipefish, ribbon eel
Ribbon eel
The ribbon eel, Rhinomuraena quaesita, or Bernis eel, is a species of saltwater eel, the only member of the genus Rhinomuraena of the Muraenidae family of order Anguilliformes. What is now known as Rhinomuraena quaesita also includes the former Rhinomuraena amboinensis. R. quaesita was used for...
s and cowries
Cowry
Cowry, also sometimes spelled cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries...
as well as many crustaceans such as lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
s, crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
s, and shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
s.
The best diving conditions exist from December to April, with whale sharks and manta rays visiting from February to May.
In popular culture
In the 1965 James Bond film ThunderballThunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
, Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is arguably...
in a disguised voice sends an ultimatum to NATO demanding that they pay SPECTRE
SPECTRE
SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
a ransom of white flawless diamonds worth £100 million to be deposited in the Mergui Archipelago off the coast of Burma.