Ko Libong (เกาะลิบง) is one of 550 islands in the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

. Lying off the coast of

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, it is a part of an eponymous sub-district of Kantang District, Trang Province, which also includes several other islands of the Libong Archipelago and a small section of the shoreline near Kantang.

Geography

Ko Libong, Trang's largest island, is 30 minutes by

long-tail boat The long-tail boat (, , ) is a type of watercraft native to Southeast Asia that uses a common automotive engine as a readily available and maintainable powerplant. A craft designed to carry passengers on a river may include a lightweight, long ca ...

from Hat Yao Ban Chao Mai Pier. Less visited than neighbouring isles, Ko Libong is known for its flora and fauna as much as for its beaches. The island is home to a small Muslim fishing community and has a few resorts on its west coast beaches.

Environment

On the east coast of Ko Libong at Laem Ju Hoi is a large area of mangroves protected by the Botanical Department as the Libong Islands Wildlife Reserve.

Dugongs

Ko Libong's sea channels have

sea grass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

, a favorite food of the rare

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest ...

, making the Libong Wildlife Sanctuary one of the last habitats of the species. Around 180 of the creatures survive there. Two hundred

s are believed to still exist in Thai waters , 180 of them off Ko Libong. Dugongs are listed in Thailand's Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act as one of 19 protected wild species in Thailand. Their presence is due to the more than 12,000

rai (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s surrounding Libong. Seagrass is the dugong's favourite food and 11 of the 13 species of seagrasses in Thailand are found at Ko Libong. Dugong

The leading causes of dugong deaths are fishing equipment and boat collisions. In the first nine months of 2019, 21 dugongs have died. Among them was an infant dugong that died from eating

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

, which led to severe

gastritis Gastritis is the inflammation of the lining of the stomach. It may occur as a short episode or may be of a long duration. There may be no symptoms but, when symptoms are present, the most common is upper abdominal pain (see dyspepsia). Othe ...

and blood infection. The dugong losses are exacerbated by their low

birth rate Birth rate, also known as natality, is the total number of live childbirth, human births per 1,000 population for a given period divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registr ...

; they cannot be bred in captivity. Ko Libong inhabitants have united to create a preservation zone for dugongs where fishing and navigation are limited. Residents monitor compliance from a watchtower on the island. They also scour the seagrass meadows for plastic debris. Ko Libong's program will later be expanded to 11 other dugong habitats, including Ko Phra Thong, areas in the Prasae River delta, and

Bandon Bay Bandon Bay (, , ) is a bay in the Gulf of Thailand in Surat Thani Province, extending from the Sui cape in Chaiya District in the northwest to Kanchanadit District to the east. The total coastline is about 100 km. The bay is dominated by ...

. Ko Libong was named an ASEAN Heritage Park at the 15th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment in October 2019.

Birds

The island has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports a significant wintering population of spotted greenshanks. Harvesting the nests of

swiftlets Swiftlets are birds from the four genera ''Aerodramus'', ''Collocalia'', ''Hydrochous'' and ''Schoutedenapus'', which form the tribe (biology), tribe Collocaliini within the swift (bird), swift family (biology), family Apodidae. The group contain ...

has been a money-making activity for Ko Libong residents for hundreds of years. Ko Libong no longer has swiftlet nests, but collectors seek them on other islands in the Trang Sea, on Ko Muk, Ko Petra, and Ko Laolieng or in neighbouring provinces like Phatthalung,

Krabi Krabi (, ) is the capital of and main town in Krabi Province (''thesaban mueang''), on the west coast of southern Thailand, where the Krabi River flows into Phang Nga Bay. The town lies south of Bangkok, and as of 2020, has a population of 32, ...

, and Phang Nga. The nests are harvested three times a year, in February, April, and July–August. Each job takes about seven to eight days. When harvesting nests for the third time, harvesters wait until the chicks have flown away.

Libong Islands

There are a total of 6 islands in the Libong archipelago including the main island Ko Libong.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ko Libong Islands of Thailand Islands of the Strait of Malacca Important Bird Areas of Thailand Important Bird Areas of Indian Ocean islands Islands of the Indian Ocean Geography of Trang province Lists of coordinates Tourist attractions in Trang province Tambon of Trang province