Myanmar is bordered with part of  Indian ocean and in the country there are numbers of rivers in which the longest is the Ayeyarwaddy river. There are also other major rivers namely Chindwin river, Thanlwin river and Sittong river. Despite these major rivers, there are numerous rivers in many parts of the country and locals of those places have to depend on those rivers for their daily life by fishing or doing other jobs concerned with water as floating gardens in Inle lake. For having such numbers of rivers and border with Bay of Bengal, we can say Myanmar is rich in marine organisms.

Recently, in Kawthaung , Tanintharyi region, there has been seen coral just near the shoreline where we do not need to dive deep to see them. Moreover, the marine mammal that is under Marine Mammal Protection and Endengered species acts in 1970 is found around PULO BALU island, Tanintharyi region . That mammal is no other than sea otter which is very rare to see in Myanmar especially in asia. Sea otters are very fundamental for their environment they are living in and help to reduce levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This island is also inhabited by groups of dolphin.

Not only PULO BALU island, there are 800 or more islands in southern Myanmar and we expect there will be unseen marine species that are needed to protect.  As marine tourism becomes the hot topic in Myanmar, we need to consider sustainable ways without effecting life under water and making those places a tourist attraction.  As I mentioned above, locals do fishing and it is the main industry for some cities in the country. Since last few years ago, fishing is limited in some parts of the ocean and rivers, as uneducated fishermen and locals who know only to get money started electro-fishing. Nowadays, some parts of Ayeyarwaddy river are demarcated as dolphin protection zones because there had been found electro-fishing including dolphins even in day time.  Lately, electro-fishing has been decreased because of strict action and awareness campaigns.

If we do not value what we already have like virgin islands in southern part of the country where most of marine species are living in, we gonna lose our biodiversity which will be the result of the loss of our human being directly and indirectly.