[Coral-List] Dive marshalls

Mon Jan 28 16:07:12 EST 2013

Dear Julie and All,

I
guess the place you are talking about near MarsaAlam, Southern Red Sea called AbuDabab
Bay, which is very popular diving site famous for the sea grass bed that
attract many marine turtles and also Dugongs as regular visitors to the bay for
feeding purposes.

Due to
high popularity of the shallow bay as diving site and sandy beach, The site and
marine life is subjected to a high impacts from snorkeling and diving pressur. Unfortunately
is located out of the Marine Park borders and not declared as a protected area yet.
So far the Marine Park Authority is trying to implement some sort of control,
public awareness campaigns and guidelines to be implemented, this is carried out
voluntarily in cooperation with the users and diving community over there. The snorkeling
guides you mentioned is a result of that management activity. 

Currently,
I think this is good at the end but not enough regarding high visitors numbers
and popularity, I agree it may needs more control measures and legislations. The
site is on the agenda of the Marine Park Authority for future consideration to
be declared as MPA or specially managed area as soon as the political and
economic situation in Egypt settle down, keep fingers crossed.

Another
site that I'd like to mention, situated also outside the Marine Park borders'
and located further down to the south near AbuDabab bay is the Samadi reef
where large spinner dolphins population use it as a nursery ground and shelter
reef,  A similar situation applied and
was suffering from excessive pressure due to large numbers of visitors and
absence of strict environmental control. In 2003/2004 the Marine Park Authority
took the initiative with diving operators, local authorities and NGO's in the
area to declare it as a special environmentally managed area in order to
minimize the impacts, monitor and conserve the dolphin population and control snorkeling
and diving according to best practice guidelines. The initiative was a very significant
success story and model where eco-friendly and environmental mitigation measures
applied to help both conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.  

And I
can assure that the Marine Park Authority is working on repeating more good experience
and models at AbuDabab bay and similar marine sites.

BTW, There
are Three Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas already declared in the
Egyptian Red Sea cost alone cover nearly 50.000 square K.M. and + 40 Islands.

Hope
that helps to reflect the image in Egyptian Southern Red Sea. 

Regards

Sincerely: Yasser SaiedMSc. Marine Environmental Protection,Deputy Manager, Red Sea Marine Protected AreasSKYPE: YasserSaied70 P Please consider the environment before printing this email       ================================================================Bbe green, read from the screen 

 > Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:46:35 +0000
> From: julie.hawkins at york.ac.uk
> To: m.milanese at studioassociatogaia.com
> CC: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Dive marshalls
> 
> Hi Martina
> 
> No it definitely wasn't there - the place I visited was way down in
> southern Egypt.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Julie
> 
> On 25 January 2013 18:31, Martina Milanese
> <m.milanese at studioassociatogaia.com> wrote:
> > Hi Julie, the place may be Turtle Beach, just on the corner of Marsa Bareka,
> > i.e. The large bay at the beginning of the Ras Mohammed NP (coming from
> > Sharm).
> > I agree on all that you say - I was working there...
> >
> > Martina
> >
> >
> > On 25/01/13 14.15, "Julie Hawkins" <julie.hawkins at york.ac.uk> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Julian
> >>
> >> I snorkelled in such a place in Egypt  a couple of years ago (but
> >> others were diving there). I can't remember the name of the place for
> >> sure but it was something like Turtle Bay and it was reasonably close
> >> to Marsa Elam in Southern Egypt. It was a so called protected area and
> >> you had to pay a very small sum to get to the site. It could have been
> >> as little as 1 Egyptian pound (~ 25 cents). The area of interest to
> >> most people was a seagrass bed which contained several turtles and
> >> there was a guard (or might have been more) in the water trying to
> >> stop people from diving down to hold on to the turtles. Sadly he was
> >> completely unable to manage the appalling behaviour of the many who
> >> were trying (and succeeding) in grabbing these poor turtles.
> >>
> >> As an aside when I investigated the reef adjacent to this seagrass
> >> area I found as expected horrific levels of coral damage near to the
> >> edges. However on venturing just a few a bit further away the damage
> >> swiftly disappeared and I encountered some of the most spectacular
> >> shallow water reef I have ever seen in the Red Sea. It revealed all
> >> you need to know about the damage that divers and snorkellors can do.
> >>
> >> Cheers
> >>
> >> Julie
> >>
> >> On 25 January 2013 05:28, Julian @ Reef Check <julian at reefcheck.org.my> wrote:
> >>> Esteemed colleagues
> >>>
> >>> I acknowledge that this is not a scientific coral enquiry, but I think list
> >>> readers probably cover most diving locations around the world, so can
> >>> perhaps help.
> >>>
> >>> I am doing some research on the issue of dive site management. Does anyone
> >>> know of any MPA that is a popular dive site at which the management regime
> >>> includes dive marshals whose role it is to follow dive groups and monitor
> >>> their activities, and who have the authority to insist divers leave the
> >>> water for not "obeying" site rules (eg., touching coral reef with fins or
> >>> fingers, interfering with marine life)?
> >>>
> >>> Any information gratefully received.
> >>>
> >>> Regards
> >>>
> >>> Julian Hyde
> >>> General Manager
> >>> Reef Check Malaysia Bhd
> >>> 03 2161 5948
> >>> www.reefcheck.org.my
> >>> Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rcmalaysia
> >>>
> >>> "The bottom line of the Millenium Assessment findings is that human actions
> >>> are depleting Earth's natural capital, putting such strain on the
> >>> environment that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future
> >>> generations can no longer be taken for granted."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dr Julie Hawkins
> Lecturer in Marine Environmental Management
> Environment Department
> University of York
> York YO10 5DD
> United Kingdom
> Tel +44 (0)1904 324 073
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