JEDDAH, 11 May 2003 — The reefs up to 40 km south of Jeddah are in rapid decline or dead. Since the turn of the year, the decline has been steady and noticeable, month-by-month. Swathes of dead white coral, devoid of the polyps that color them and produce the fantastical formations and environment for the legendary profusion of wildlife in the Red Sea will soon be the stuff of legend.
Since last autumn, two huge sewage outfall pipes have been seen pumping black clouds of raw sewage into the sea just south of Jeddah. The prevailing current carries the pollution southward along the coast. The littoral is now knee-deep in a brown stinking slime, home to flamingoes feeding off the algae and minute marine life it contains.
“The Kingdom abounds with the basic requirements for tourism, especially safety and security, moderate prices and varied natural scenery,” Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd said in June 2001 when highlighting the Kingdom’s tourist potential. A month later Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, underscored the partnership between the state and private sector to promote tourism in the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is on the verge of losing one of those pieces of “varied scenery,” the piece that is a source of tourism revenue that would attract tourists willing to spend considerable sums to see the unspoiled reefs that are still here, but are severely threatened.
“It’s not just the damage being done by raw sewage and dumping of building waste that is destroying the potential here,” Hagen Schmid, an internationally-renowned undersea photographer who has been recording the reefs and their decline for more than 25 years, told Arab News. “The tourist industry even in its early stage is about to spear itself in the foot.”
Spear fishing is a major pastime among a section of the expatriate community. Dive shops sell spear guns, and in some cases they form the major part of their income. Boatloads of spear fishers regularly leave marinas in Jeddah to hunt fish on virgin reefs. “The excuse offered by locals and expatriates alike that ‘we are traditionally hunters’ is no excuse at all. They are systematically wiping out the very thing that the eco-tourism industry which the government says it wants to promote is based on.”
The persistence of spear fishers even invades private beaches. One beach manager on a private beach club north of Jeddah regularly accosts spear fishermen and turns them over to the coast guard. “They have denuded the reefs either side of us,” he said, “and they are desperate to spear fish on our section. We have the last decent stretch of coral within 150 km of Jeddah. Even that is not nearly as lively as 20 years ago.”
Recently a large mansion was built up-current of the beach. The building waste formed a slick several kilometers long and deposited tons of fine cement and sand dust on the reef. “Sections have been irreparably damaged. They will take decades to recover — if they ever do.”
The targets of the spear fishers are the largest fish they can kill, Grouper, Najil and Hamour being particularly prized. “These fish need to survive for 10 years before they reach sexual maturity,” said Schmid. “Only then do they release the three to five million eggs necessary to guarantee the survival of perhaps one or two young. Sadly, these ‘mother fish’ are prime targets. Kill them and you remove the attraction of the reef for tourist divers and the resultant income, and you also contribute to killing off the reef life.”
In January 2001, Dr. Abdul Aziz Abu Zinada said on the subject of eco-tourism that “one of the priorities of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation Development would be the sustainable growth of tourism that does not disturb the ecological balance,” and that the objective of a forthcoming conference “was to benefit from the experience of other countries.”
From the evidence of the reefs south of Jeddah, the boats full of spear fishermen and the quantity of spear guns available for “hunters,” these ambitions are nowhere near being achieved.
The experience of Sharm El-Sheikh in southern Egypt could constitute an example to follow. Draconian rules banning coral removal, pollution and spear fishing have halted the beginnings of a decline in reef quality and turned the underwater environment into a world center for eco-tourism. There are places accessible from Jeddah that are completely untouched and potentially much more attractive than even Sharm El-Sheikh.
The future of the major tourist attraction that stretches along 2,300 km of the Red Sea coast is in the balance. It is exemplified by the arrival of a custom-built live-aboard dive boat that arrived in Abhur Creek a few days ago. Capable of sleeping and providing for nearly 30 divers for periods of two weeks, the boat is destined to run trips to the Farasan Islands, a truly untouched area off the coast of Jizan.
The whole economic survival of that enterprise, which is based on an underlying assumption that the tourist industry will be supported and encouraged, depends on there being large and rare fish and marine species to see and swim with in a virgin environment.
If divers with spear guns clean out the reef and if the pollution from Jeddah that is creeping inexorably southward reaches this incomparable environment, then the very thing that attracts the tourist could be destroyed. Another Saudi enterprise could collapse, potential income could be lost and Saudi Arabia’s commitment to “the sustainable growth of tourism that does not disturb the ecological balance” could lose credibility.
