Ladies and Gentlemen of Scubaboard
Being a long-term resident of the Egyptian Red Sea (Sharm, Hurghada & Dahab) and also being a diving instructor for 15 years, I feel I am in a pretty good place to talk about conservation of the Red Sea. In particular, one of the most often visited dive sites in Dahab, the Canyon.
As you may know, the Canyon is just that; a trench running west to east, with the entrance to the nether regions at around 22m and finally running to 50m+ for the full Canyon. The majority of divers enter the big chamber at 22m drop down to 30m and then come out through a smaller aperture at around 20m slightly further west.
There is another option for exit, that of the Fishbowl.
It is a vertical, very narrow chimney that comes out at around 16-18m into a coral dome.
A veritable cave-diver's nightmare! Hundreds of inexperienced divers clambering through a very narrow hole in the name of excitement!
The problem is that the exhaust bubbles collect in the roof of the Fishbowl and have very few holes to escape. So the air kills the surrounding coral, and the plethora of fish no longer use it as a bolthole. The exit was a tight squeeze years ago, now a diver could walk through it, at an angle. Unsuspecting divers are destroying it.
A survey was done on the Fishbowl and it concluded that in time, the roof will collapse bit by bit and if there were divers in the chimney and dome, then there would be injuries at around 18-22m.
One of the other concerns is the amount of co2 being transferred into the seawater.
In the mid 1990s the air escaping through the underground matrix of coral, emerged at about 2m away from the middle exit hole. In 2006 during the trial, it was 9m distant from the hole. And in 2008 it had extended to 11m.
It means that more co2 is being dispersed over a much wider area. The effects, which need further substantiation, is an increase in acidifaction (a worldwide problem) due to the increase of carbonic acid, more direct air exposure to the growing coral (a killing effect) and a possible reduction in the strength of the matrix, due to physical and chemical erosion. It is important to realise that the dive numbers have grown from 30/day to 300/day during this period 1990-2008. The volume of disolved gasses has increased by 1000%.
It has been widely known that the Fishbowl chimney is closed to divers. There are signs at the entry point to the lagoon dive site and, as most dive guides are very chatty people, we are all aware of the closure and the dangers of going through the Fishbowl.
But still we see guides taking divers through this. The majority of the guides that we seegoing through are from Sharm el Sheikh or Nuweiba travelling up on day trips to Dahab.
We are tasked with reporting these guides and their respective dive centres to the authorities, but without the help of our guests, it is often seen as petty bickering. Irrespective, it is something which has to be done
I, personally, have had experience of witnessing & reporting locals, breaking marine laws by fishing on dive sites while divers were underneath, when I was in Thailand, and I found my equipment broken and my safety threatened over the next two months. So there is also the added threat of needing to continue living here.
We need help from our tourist divers. Firstly, when you come to Dahab, simply state that you do not want to dive in a manner detrimental to the reef, to your dive guide, please refuse to go through the Fishbowl. It is for not only your safety, but for the safety of the divers underneath you in the chimney and for the marine environment.
Secondly, when you dive the Canyon, if you see anyone emerging from the small hole set into the ground, in what appears to be a large mound of coral (the fishbowl dome), and you have a camera, please take lots of photos - no matter how fuzzy or unclear they are, the more of them the better as this will help in identifying the dive centre or instructor putting lives at risk and the destruction of native coral.
Thirdly, can you please write a small letter or email of your date and time of dive, you can do this anonymously if you want, but to lend more weight to the report, include your name, address and passport number and then include your photos. This will be passed to the Ministry of environment who, through organisations (D.A.E.D. and the National Parks) who have Volunteer Rangers in the area, will take action.
The volunteer rangers are represented by a Swiss marine biologist, Jessica Boumeeister, and she is as passionate about the Egyptian National Parks as anyone I have met.
Please give the letter to the Volunteer Ranger head office at the Dahab Association for Environmental Development (DAED - the office is on the main road next to the Crazy Camel Camp and Floodway) or
Send your email to
dahabmarineprotectorate@yahoo.com
j.suhayla@gmail.com
ianpenberthy@gmail.com
Thank you
Duncan Proffitt
PADI Master Instructor
Dahab
Being a long-term resident of the Egyptian Red Sea (Sharm, Hurghada & Dahab) and also being a diving instructor for 15 years, I feel I am in a pretty good place to talk about conservation of the Red Sea. In particular, one of the most often visited dive sites in Dahab, the Canyon.
As you may know, the Canyon is just that; a trench running west to east, with the entrance to the nether regions at around 22m and finally running to 50m+ for the full Canyon. The majority of divers enter the big chamber at 22m drop down to 30m and then come out through a smaller aperture at around 20m slightly further west.
There is another option for exit, that of the Fishbowl.
It is a vertical, very narrow chimney that comes out at around 16-18m into a coral dome.
A veritable cave-diver's nightmare! Hundreds of inexperienced divers clambering through a very narrow hole in the name of excitement!
The problem is that the exhaust bubbles collect in the roof of the Fishbowl and have very few holes to escape. So the air kills the surrounding coral, and the plethora of fish no longer use it as a bolthole. The exit was a tight squeeze years ago, now a diver could walk through it, at an angle. Unsuspecting divers are destroying it.
A survey was done on the Fishbowl and it concluded that in time, the roof will collapse bit by bit and if there were divers in the chimney and dome, then there would be injuries at around 18-22m.
One of the other concerns is the amount of co2 being transferred into the seawater.
In the mid 1990s the air escaping through the underground matrix of coral, emerged at about 2m away from the middle exit hole. In 2006 during the trial, it was 9m distant from the hole. And in 2008 it had extended to 11m.
It means that more co2 is being dispersed over a much wider area. The effects, which need further substantiation, is an increase in acidifaction (a worldwide problem) due to the increase of carbonic acid, more direct air exposure to the growing coral (a killing effect) and a possible reduction in the strength of the matrix, due to physical and chemical erosion. It is important to realise that the dive numbers have grown from 30/day to 300/day during this period 1990-2008. The volume of disolved gasses has increased by 1000%.
It has been widely known that the Fishbowl chimney is closed to divers. There are signs at the entry point to the lagoon dive site and, as most dive guides are very chatty people, we are all aware of the closure and the dangers of going through the Fishbowl.
But still we see guides taking divers through this. The majority of the guides that we seegoing through are from Sharm el Sheikh or Nuweiba travelling up on day trips to Dahab.
We are tasked with reporting these guides and their respective dive centres to the authorities, but without the help of our guests, it is often seen as petty bickering. Irrespective, it is something which has to be done
I, personally, have had experience of witnessing & reporting locals, breaking marine laws by fishing on dive sites while divers were underneath, when I was in Thailand, and I found my equipment broken and my safety threatened over the next two months. So there is also the added threat of needing to continue living here.
We need help from our tourist divers. Firstly, when you come to Dahab, simply state that you do not want to dive in a manner detrimental to the reef, to your dive guide, please refuse to go through the Fishbowl. It is for not only your safety, but for the safety of the divers underneath you in the chimney and for the marine environment.
Secondly, when you dive the Canyon, if you see anyone emerging from the small hole set into the ground, in what appears to be a large mound of coral (the fishbowl dome), and you have a camera, please take lots of photos - no matter how fuzzy or unclear they are, the more of them the better as this will help in identifying the dive centre or instructor putting lives at risk and the destruction of native coral.
Thirdly, can you please write a small letter or email of your date and time of dive, you can do this anonymously if you want, but to lend more weight to the report, include your name, address and passport number and then include your photos. This will be passed to the Ministry of environment who, through organisations (D.A.E.D. and the National Parks) who have Volunteer Rangers in the area, will take action.
The volunteer rangers are represented by a Swiss marine biologist, Jessica Boumeeister, and she is as passionate about the Egyptian National Parks as anyone I have met.
Please give the letter to the Volunteer Ranger head office at the Dahab Association for Environmental Development (DAED - the office is on the main road next to the Crazy Camel Camp and Floodway) or
Send your email to
dahabmarineprotectorate@yahoo.com
j.suhayla@gmail.com
ianpenberthy@gmail.com
Thank you
Duncan Proffitt
PADI Master Instructor
Dahab
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