PHUKET, Thailand (29 May 2009) — Scientists and marine resource managers revealed that many of Thailand's top dive sites are blighted with garbage. Officials told CDNN they found 22 tons of garbaged dumped in the sea last year, most of it in and around popular dive sites. According to Department of Marine and Coastal Resources chief, Samran Rakchart, said the largest garbage dump was found in Koh Samaesarn in Chon Buri province, the same area where containers thought to contain human skeletons are located. Yesterday, Central Institute of Forensic Science director Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan announced a full-scale forensic investigation by the navy of eight shipping containers found submerged on the seabed off Chon Buri's Sattahip district. Coastal resource officials are keeping records of garbage found in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Samran said much of the garbage is plastic, beer bottles and fishing equipment, all of which damage marine ecosystems and harm marine wildlife. Examinations of dolphins and sea turtles that wash up dead on Thai beaches often find plastic and other garbage in their stomachs. | 
