 News:
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Cash
boost for Red Sea Reefs
Reefs
of the Red Sea are to receive a substantial cash
boost next year. An agreement has been reached between
the Red Sea Governorate, The Ministry of the Environment,
and the Red Sea NGO's (Red Sea Association for Diving
and Watersports, and HEPCA), whereby a standard
blanket marine activities environmental fee of $3.00
will be levied on each diver or snorkeller on a
daily basis.
The new agreement is significant in that it heavily
involved, perhaps for the first time, the active
participation and feed back of the stakeholders
who will be most effected by any such measures. |
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It is important to note that the new decree regulating
this procedure has included for the first time two
important demands made by the Red Sea Association
on behalf of the sector, namely;
1- There is a clear commitment that the majority
of the receipts of those fees is reinvested for
the well being and protection of the marine environment
in the Red Sea, including financial support to the
regions’ active NGO's.
2- That a grace period of at least one year is accorded.
Here
is a translation of the decree in question:
Red Sea Governor's decree # 77 for the year 2004
is ratified:
*
After viewing law number 43 for the year 1979 relating
to the local administration and its modification
and the Executive regulation.
* After viewing the Governorate civil council note
number 795 dated 3-6-2000 related to fees collection
for certain marine activities and the executive
decision number 88 for the year 2002.
* After viewing the Red Sea Association for Diving
and Water Sport's approval dated 17-4-2004 and a
protocol of the integral method of developing the
financial resources and the financial plan for the
Marine resources management , signed between the
Governorate and the Ministry of State for the Environment,
dated 25-4-2004.
In
view of our desire to raise the quality of the marine
services in the Governorate, and in the interests
if public welfare, it has been decided:
Article
1
The Red Sea real estate directorate will be responsible
for collecting a service charge for water sport
activities - including diving and snorkelling and
visiting protected areas that are carried out within
the Governorate.
The service charge will be three U.S Dollars (US
dollar is equal to 7 pounds) from tourists and five
Egyptian pounds from Egyptian tourists. The collected
charges shall be directed to a special fund within
the Governorate.
Article
2
After deducting the direct and indirect expenses
the income shall be distributed according to the
following scheme:
50 % shall be directed to the environmental fund
of the Ministry of State for the Environment's activities
of the local environmental branch and protectorate
division and to support the environmental efforts
in the Governorate.
50 % shall be directed towards the Governorates
service fund to support the general environmental
administration. This includes rewarding those who
are working in this field and environmental non-governmental
organizations.
Also to establish an electronic system to manage
and control the boats, including hardware and human
resources.
Article
3
This decree will be active as of May 1st, 2005.
Furthermore, this is to declare the suspension of
our previous decree number 88 for the year 2000
as of April 30th, 2005.
Article
4
Decree # 178 for the year 2003 and its executive
regulations for the management of Samadai reef is
still valid and also the decree for the management
of the Far Islands.
Article
5
All concerned agencies are responsible for the execution
of this decree, each in their area and to notify
all parties concerned and to publish the decree
in an Egyptian official circular.
Red Sea Governor
Saad Abu Rida
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| Sharks
attacked
Following
a number of reports concerning increased
incidents of illegal shark fishing and some
shark feeding by divers on southern liveaboards,
H. E. General Saad Abu Rida was swift and
decisive (as is his custom when it comes
to environmental matters), and issued decree
# 79 for 2004 in which he completely and
unequivocally banned fishing or trading
of sharks in the Red Sea Governorate under
severe penalties of law for any offenders. |
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Decree
# 79 for the year 2004 is ratified:
*
After viewing law number 43 for the year
1979 relating to the local administration
and its modification and the executive
regulations.
* After viewing the environmental law
number 4 for the year 1994 and its executive
regulations.
* After viewing the Red Sea protectorate's
report dated 22-3-2004 regarding prohibiting
illegal shark trade including fishing,
negotiation and trade between any of the
Governorates’ ports.
In
view of our desire to protect and preserve
the natural environment of the Red Sea due
to its importance for tourist development
and its direct influence on the tourist
traffic to the Governorate, it has been
decreed:
Article 1
It is prohibited to fish, deal with, or
traffic sharks within the Red Sea Governorate,
and the handling of sharks in any of the
Governorates' ports is banned.
Article
2
Severe measures including monitoring and
controlling the ports, marinas and jetties
within the Red Sea Governorate and executing
all legal actions against violators in accordance
with the first clause of this decree.
Article
3
All concerned agencies are responsible for
the execution of this decree, each in their
own areas and to notify all parties concerned.
Red Sea Governor
Saad Abu Rida |
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| Association
to the rescue |
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An
unfortunate event took place on June 4th when
a liveaboard boat at the Brothers Islands
experienced difficulties due to severe sea
conditions which led to serious entanglement
of the mooring lines over the boat’s
propellers which caused the boat to take in
water. This happened while about 10 of the
19 strong Hungarian group of divers who had
chartered the boat were actually underwater
doing a dive.
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The
boat kept taking in water and started to sink,
fortunately no one was hurt and the entire
group and the 8 man crew of the boat were
taken aboard another dive boat nearby taking
them to shore in Marsa Alam, south of Hurghada.
The
problem was that all the personal belongings
of the group including passports, money, clothing
etc went down with the sinking boat. As soon
as the Association was informed, with the
direct personal supervision of H. E. the Governor,
all efforts were mobilised to receive the
group in Hurghada. Arrangements were made
to provide hotel rooms, emergency travel kits
for everyone (clothing, shaving items etc),
and representatives of the Association’s
board of directors were constantly with the
group facilitating the formalities and police
reports. Meanwhile, Hungarian embassy staff
flew in from Cairo to issue new passports
and provide help.
Later
in the evening the Association hosted a reception
for the group and the embassy staff and remained
with the group until they all flew back home.
The Hungarian Embassy in Cairo was so impressed
with the care and support accorded to the
group by the Governor, the coast guard, tourist
police and the Association that they arranged
for an official reception at the embassy in
Cairo for Vice chairman Mr Mahmoud El Marzouki,
during which he was presented with a letter
of appreciation for all concerned.
At
the end of the day the best was made of an
unfortunate situation and we are pleased to
say that we have also received a letter of
thanks from the group. |
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| H2O
interview with H. E. Governer of South Sinai |
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The
governor of South Sinai required all diving
centers to join the South Sinai Association
for Diving and Marine activities (SSDM) by
March 2004. This is to help insure quality
services, environmental protection and training
and education programs for professionals.
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The
government of South Sinai is to encourage
training programs and education courses to
boats' crew members, the improvement of tourists'
services and to have environmentally friendly
marine operations.
(For the full interview, please refer to the
‘Local Colour' section
of this issue). |
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| Red
Sea experience goes international |
Based
in Sharm El Sheikh, Divex recently co-hosted
along with Technical & Marketing Promotion
staff from the parent Company MARES
ITALY, a "TROUBLE
SHOOTING AND
HI-TECH FEATURES TRAINING COURSE".
Divex
is proud to congratulate 70 technical
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seminar
participants who received from Mares a "TROUBLE
SHOOTING AND HI-TECH FEATURES TRAINING COURSE"
certificate. |
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The
seminar was conducted at Ghazala Garden,
Naama Bay on the 15th and 16th of
April 2004 and was open to instructors
and dive guides of diving centers
and all professionals in diving sectors
located in Egypt. |
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| A
Red Sea Love Affair |
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The French are renowned for their romance,
and recently H2O was privy to a French love
affair with a different flavour.
Our heroine is Sandrine Kolau, a French journalist
and photographer who lives in the south of
France.
Sandrine has been an active diving instructor
since 1987 with both PADI and CMAS, and was
a managing partner of a diving school in the
fashionable Cap d’Antibes for a number
of years. When her partner left, she decided
to sell the business in 1990.
Not really cut out for office work, she took
a job as a freelance writer in New Caledonia
covering hotels and diving schools for a local
guide book.
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| Sandrine
came to the Egyptian Red Sea in 1998 when
she was asked by the famous Guide De Routard
to cover the diving scene for French holiday
makers. Having already produced dive guide
books about Corsica, the Atlantic and some
other destinations for a European publishing
house, she decided to produce her own dive
guide books about the Red Sea, hence the start
of the affair.
For Sandrine, Egypt’s
Red Sea was the top destination for European
divers so she felt that such guide books would
be of great value to the French speaking segment
of the market.
‘The first of my series was a guide
book covering 27 dive sites in the Safaga
area, which was followed by another guide
on Hurghada which covered 34 dive sites. This
year saw the southern safari guide which covered
23 dive sites.’
These guides have the distinction of being
done by a diver, (Sandrine personally dived
and made the drawings of each site covered
in her three books), and writes all the text.
The photos are left to professional photographers.
The first guide for Safaga took almost one
year, but now having mastered the technique
Sandrine can produce a new guide book in about
three months, and in view of the strong demand,
two of her guide books are being translated
into German.
Since she started with her first guide Sandrine
has been coming to the Red Sea on a regular
basis and she reckons that she has spent about
half her time in Egypt every year since 1998.
Having done thousands of dives in our waters,
surely some would stand out both as memorable
ones and indeed, Sandrine recalls one dive
at Elphinstone as the most breathtaking sight
she has ever seen with schools of hammerheads
gliding by the pristine reefs.
Another dive she recalls for a different reason,
was the only time she was genuinely frightened
when she was menacingly circled by an overly
aggressive Bull shark at St. John’s
reef till she had to actually climb on to
the reef.
Sandrine feels at home in Egypt, she appreciates
how everyone goes out of their way to make
her feel comfortable and to make her work
easier, mostly it is the people that have
captured her heart.
For the future, Sandrine is working on the
second safari guide book covering the Brothers
all the way to Wadi Gimal which is expected
to come out this winter, and in 2005 the German
edition of both southern guide books should
be out.
Finally, Sandrine expresses her wish to see
a more collective concern by European divers
for safety and depth limits of the Red Sea
and more awareness of the fragile underwater
environment.
My heart is in Egypt, was Sandrine’s
closing comment.
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