The park was established in 1974. In 1982, it was listed as one of the original
ASEAN Heritage Parks. It was also submitted to UNESCO for inclusion as a
World Heritage Site in 1990, but its listing was deferred at the fifteenth session of the
World Heritage Committee in 1991.
UNESCO requested stronger management of the area. The rivers and swamps of Tarutao Island were the last known refuge for the
saltwater crocodile,
Crocodylus porosus, within Thailand. The species is now extinct in the area. The oldest surviving eyewitness description of the island dates from December 1606 and January 1607 and is contained in the travelogue of the
Dutch East India Company Admiral
Cornelis Matelief de Jonge. In the late-1930s the island was used as a
penal colony for Thai
political prisoners. During
World War II, when support from the mainland was cut off, the guards and prisoners banded together and raided ships sailing through the waters near the island. The raids were masterminded by an American plantation owner who blamed the war for the loss of his fortune. He was assisted by two British
non-commissioned officers who were on the run for murder and who ironically landed on Tarutao to sit out the war. They sank 130 ships, always killing everyone on board. After the
pirates of Tarutao were eradicated by British forces at the end of the war, fishermen and farmers took up residence on the island. == Attractions ==