Saudi Arabia's Red Sea reefs have achieved the dubious honor of being included in the top ten most threatened reef areas in the world.
In a report published by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) in partnership with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) the Red Sea coast and the Gulf of Aden are placed tenth, immediately after the Western Caribbean. The Philippines ahead the list.
Researchers identified the 10 areas by mapping the geographic ranges of 1,700 species of reef fish, 804 corals, 662 snails and 69 lobster species. They then compared these with known threats to coral reefs from human activity -- industrial, effluent, building and fishing.
The 10 areas specified in the report contain 24 percent of the world's reefs, but 34 percent of endemic species. The research should help focus the work of conservationists and marine scientist more accurately. However, 27 percent of the world's reefs have already been destroyed or badly damaged by problems arising from climate change, according to the report and a further 14 percent will be destroyed in the next ten to twenty years.
"In Australia and Papua New Guinea -- where 60 percent of the Great Barrier Reef was bleached in 2002, with some inshore reefs suffering up to 90 percent coral death -- most reefs remain predominantly healthy due to low human pressures and effective management and monitoring."
The GCRMN report was written by Dr Clive Wilkinson, an Australian marine scientist. He said: "Our first 'state-of-the-reef' report in 1998 identified mass coral bleaching, which killed off around 16 percent of the world's coral stocks. "The latest report shows there has been recovery, but it is in areas that are quarantined from other activity. That is largely due to the influence of the international community in recent years."
The threat continues, especially in countries seeking to develop their fishing and tourism industries and increase industrial activity along their coastlines with the attendant building programs. Saudi Arabia, with is 1840 kilometer Red Sea coastline is a case in point.
Are reefs important, could it be stopped and does it mater if we take a few fish and molluscs as souvenirs? Yes and yes and yes are the answers, although with several major provisos.
Krzysztof Berkeita, a marine scientist visiting the Kingdom as part of a team assessing the state of the coastal marine ecosystem, was optimistic in his evaluation of the reefs. Utilizing Al-Ahlam Marina's live-aboard boats and dovetailing into their environmental program, a 500-kilometer inspection of the northern Red Sea coastline was logged.
"The first thing that strikes you when you dive here is the complexity of the structures," he said. "Not necessarily only of the living structures, but also of the bedrock which was at one stage coral and has been uplifted. This has formed incredible cave systems and gullies through the reef that I have not seen in other sites."
The Red Sea has a unique mix of marine animals, a product of isolation. The Red Sea is a comparatively isolated body of water. Thus you have endomism -- habitation by species you won't find elsewhere.
Generally speaking, the reefs that Berkeita surveyed were in very good condition. A few reefs had broken corals -- the result of storms or ship strikes. "However," he said, "The obvious damage they you see when sites are dived very regularly isn't there."
"Acropara table corals here -- a basic reef building coral -- regularly span over two meters. They are in perfect condition and a comparatively slow growing coral, one of the most important reef builders. There are colonies that are two hundred years old in perfect condition. You don't see that in sites that are regularly dived."
Diving is a rapidly expanding tourist industry, but infrequent divers can cause problems. "People get one week a year to go diving -- they don't practice, they don't have a mastery over buoyancy. Divers from some countries see the reefs as simply a source of food or of souvenirs."
In terms of development, what is a beautiful reef to a conservationist or a diver is simply not the same thing to a fisherman. "It's a source of revenue, in the same way a farmer doesn't see a field of corn as a beautiful thing -- but as a resource. Part time fishermen from some cultures supplement their incomes from the reef."
In Berkeita's view, there can be a productive relationship between reefs and tourism or fishing. The key is in the management of the resource -- of which humans are a part. Because they use the ecosystem, they become part of it, just like any predator.
The British Indian Ocean territory -- the Chagos Archipelago -- is one area where that balance is achieved. That is unique in that the level of control is high in that part of the world -- there is a US air-force base there -- and a huge military presence. The secret is very strong control, monitoring and surveillance of fishermen in the area.
"It needs the political will and the money to do it. The capital and operational costs are high. The fishermen have to be prepared to pay a sufficient resource rent to justify the spending on these."
Perfect though not entirely practical, the Chagos Archipelago sets the standard.
In practical terms, environmental control policy directed at divers, tourists and fishermen as separate areas, though good in itself is not good enough. The ecosystem is system is hugely complex and the parts interlinked, so it needs to be managed holistically, not piecemeal.
"Not only do you have to manage the resources but the people who are involved in it, as they become part of the system," explained Berkeita. "The classic management technique is to a single species and use complex equations to plot what the maximum sustainable yield is for that species. That maximum is based on a whole series of assumptions that effectively made it a guesstimate, because none of those assumptions were actually met. No species is isolated. If you change one element within the system you can't predict what is going to happen elsewhere."
Given the time and the money to chart the relationships then you could create a multi species model. People who want to exploit resources and fisheries want a return on investment and are not willing to invest the time and money on a comprehensive evaluation of the system they are using as a resource. It's a marine version of 'slash and burn' farming that is causing so much damage in the Amazon basin.
"We don't have a baseline to work on -- there is no completely 'virgin' reef ecosystem to work from. Fishing has been here for millennia -- more intensively from the 1970s there has been an active artisnal fleet -- but there were small-scale fisheries well before that. Even though restricted in size, they were there altering the ecosystem."
There is a great need to establish an objective of the research and then draw a baseline. The 21st century climate is inclined towards sustainable development. The objective has to be not simply maintaining the status quo and having a beautiful reef, but also to exploit and benefit from potential resources. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea states that country has an obligation to exploit for its population to exploit what resources are harvestable within its waters...sustainably
Marine resource development, Berkeita thinks, has three essential ingredients to make it work successfully.
First, there is careful review of the systems that are already in place and for future developments -- industrial, marine and coastal land-based. Oil, port infrastructure, domestic buildings, effluent plants, marinas, new homes -- all can have very detrimental effects on the local marine environment. Even a simple marina based on a single jetty can have catastrophic effects on the movement of water, mixing and settlement. Marine protected Areas should be established and rigidly monitored, protected and surveyed.
The second assumes that commercial fishing will develop in the Kingdom. Conservation measures have to be enforced and measures put into the system like a strict license-system, banning of some types of fishing gear. "We have to be prophylactic in the approach, set up measures that assume the future development of fisheries and prevent potential damage to stock. Pro-active legislation is the answer with monitoring and enforcement.
Finally, advocacy. The nation has to develop a sense of pride in and awareness of the resource. "Tell people about the reef, how it works, why it's important," said Berkeita.
He met Saudis who are very proud of the natural environment but are also very keen to go out and spear fish it, to profit from the resource. "That's might be OK if managed," said Berkeita. The key is effective management of the ecosystem, including humans and their needs as part of it, in a holistic manner. The constant danger is you can't see the damage that's being done."