JEDDAH, 28 April 2004 — The Corniche Road was a popular scuba-diving destination for many. However, recent development along the popular seafront stretch has left the underwater environment in a shambles.
The pedestrian pier is popular with visitors to the seafront as it allows people to walk along above the reef and watch the waves break directly underneath them. The pier is also popular with line fishermen.
In the diving community, the Corniche was well known for its variety of marine life. Manta rays, small sharks, eels, groupers and a variety of reef dwelling fish were common sights. Occasionally, a whale shark and dolphins swim close to shore. Turtles that made that stretch of the Corniche their home, and fed off the coral were a particular pleasure to watch. Some would grab on to the turtle’s shell for a short ride.
On Monday, this journalist and Divemaster Abdullah Al-Toime, dived by the pier just opposite the Westin Hotel. Hundreds of bottles and cans, as well as thousands of discarded fishing lines, complete with hook and sinker were littered on the coral. Some of the sinkers — example sparkplugs — were unorthodox and environmentally unfriendly. As we made our way along the coral bed going to 30 meters, it deteriorated further. The litter included a plastic toygun, an Aladdin DVD, a small sign written in Arabic advertising Turkish coffee for sale, a shopping cart, shoes and slippers, a skull cap, to name but a few.
At 15 meters, a large pipe, one meter in diameter, jutted straight out of the coral coming from the direction of the Corniche hotels, lending some credence to the rumor that sewage was pumped straight into the Red Sea from the hotels and resorts built above. There was no evidence however to indicate that this pipe was in use.
At 30 meters a medium size turtle was lying on the coral. Happy that the turtles hadn’t abandoned this area that appeared to be devoid of any marine life, we moved in closer. As we neared the turtle, we could see that it had fishing line wrapped around its neck and had long ago drowned.
We found ourselves looking at the direct effect that ignorance and utter disregard for the marine environment the fishermen and visitors had. Saddened at the sight, we cut the carcass loose and brought it up to be photographed for all to see.
Five species of marine turtles have been recorded in Arabian waters, of which the green turtle Chelonia mydas and the hawksbill Eretmochelys imbricata are the most important.
The Marine and Environmental Protection Agency study in Saudi Arabia estimated the Red Sea population of both species at only around 3,500 individuals.
The hawksbill is evidently the most abundant of the Red Sea turtles, with records from every country but Jordan.
Thus far, only Saudi Arabia has established a comprehensive conservation and monitoring program for marine turtles. Environmentalists suggest that the program should be extended to the regional level and include a survey of nesting areas and feeding grounds; annual tagging of adult turtles and collection of recapture data; protection of nesting sites from egg collecting and other forms of disturbance; and annual monitoring of nesting success.
Measures like this are worthy — but meaningless unless local awareness is raised of the effects the irresponsible use of fishing lines and litter is having on the marine environment.
