AMMAN - Swimmers, snorkellers and scuba divers in the Aqaba Marine Park (AMP) will now benefit from the installation of 26 mooring buoys, which will ensure their safety when using the recreational facilities within the park, as well as the integrity of the reefs beneath the surface.
"The importance of this programme is two-fold. First we are trying to ensure the safety of swimmers and snorkellers from accidentally being hit by boats," ASEZA Environmental Commissioner Salim Moghrabi told The Jordan Times.
"In the past, we have had several accidents because the boaters did not see the swimmers in the water. Now, swimmers and snorkellers have places which are roped off to keep boats away," he noted.
"The second is the preservation of the reefs. Aqaba has only 27km of shoreline and we are protecting 7km in the marine park which hosts over 127 species of hard coral and 300 kinds of soft coral, in addition to the thousands of plants and animals which coexist in the gulf," Moghrabi added.
He attributed the success of the project to the regional cooperation between the parties involved - ASEZA, AMP, the Regional Organisation for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) and HEPCA, an Egyptian NGO specialised in mooring technology and reef preservation - citing the efforts of AMP Director Abdullah Abu Awali and the marine park staff as well as the technology from HEPCA and the support of PERSGA.
The project was funded by PERSGA and ASEZA, according to Mohammed Kotb of PERSGA, an intergovernmental body dedicated to the conservation of the coastal and marine environments found in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Gulf of Suez, the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden surrounding the Socotra Archipelago and nearby waters.
Its member states include Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, of Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
"One of PERSGA's mandates, according to the Jeddah Convention and its subsequent protocols is to engage NGOs in regional (marine) conservation as well as initiate technology transfer in the region," Kotb said in an e-mail sent to The Jordan Times.
"A joint team from the AMP and PERSGA created the action plan and contracted a specialised team from HEPCA to import and install the required mooring system," he noted.
"A total of 26 mooring buoys were installed... and three areas were designated and marked with buoys and lines to keep swimming and snorkelling areas safe from nearby operating boats," added Kotb, who is based in Jeddah.
Fadi Sharaiha, executive director of the Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan, said there were not enough buoys in the past.
"A number of those we had were lost due to poor maintenance... the lines holding the buoys broke or were damaged by wave action and the buoys were lost," he noted.
There were nine mooring buoys before the project began, according to Rod Abbotson, co-owner of Dive Aqaba, and member of the Aqaba Dive Centre Focus Group.
"They put new ones in where we asked them to and repaired all the existing sites with new lines and buoys, and now, they are all numbered," he noted.
One diver, who wished to remain anonymous, said it used to be a "frustrating" experience.
"There are all these dive sites in the marine park, but we could only dive a few because there were no mooring buoys to secure our boat... using anchors is prohibited in the park so we missed out on some great diving."
The advantage of using mooring buoys over anchors is that they do not damage the delicate coral reef; the buoy systems are placed in areas free from coral and are adapted to suit the location: sand, sediment or rock.
Anchors, however, usually land on or within reef structures and boat movement, due to wind and wave action, pulls on the attached line, damaging or breaking off sections of coral.
"Coral is a very fragile animal structure which grows at the rate of one centimetre per year," Sharaiha said.
"In addition to damage by human elements, coral reefs around the world face increasing stresses due to rising temperatures and seas as the result of global warming, which is why we must be proactive in our efforts to protect the reefs," he explained.
© Jordan Times 2009
