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under the supervision of Ayman Mabrouk, manager of the Nabq Protected Area
The reefs of Dahab have been there for a long long time. So have the fish, the corals and other invertebrates. It used to be a quiet, peaceful ecosystem. But one day, humans arrived. They started fishing, building, throwing away plastic bags and plastic bottles, walking on the reef and eventually snorkelling and diving, which created a slight unbalance in the ecosystem. And eventually the humans realised the importance of their impact on the nature.
In 1983, the National Parks of Egypt were born. In 1992, the Nabq Protected Area from which Dahab depends was born.
In 2006, a few volunteer divers interested in environmental conservation got together to support the National Parks and formed the Volunteer Rangers of Dahab, after going through a two months training session.
The primary role of the Volunteer Rangers is to educate the people, by reminding divers that touching live coral can result in some serious damage - that walking on the reef flats disturbs the larval process of most reef fish and by giving people other useful information about the coral reef and how to passively interact with it.
Picture: Volunteer Rangers -
Other roles of the Volunteer Rangers are to report violations of the National Parks regulations, report biological damage such as population outbreaks of Crown of Thorns, a seastar responsible for serious damage on the reefs worldwide, or unusual algal blooms, organise regular underwater surveys to assess recovery of some parts of the local reefs after various damages and organise beach and underwater cleanups. In general, they perform an ongoing surveillance of the reef habitats.
Part of the Volunteer Rangers training session was to organise environmental related projects. Such projects continue to happen. Until now, the following projects have been done:
Many other projects have been organised such as the replacement of a fallen gorgonian in the Lighthouse by Bert van der Togt, a thorough survey of the Canyon by Jonty Laycock, Bert van der Togt, Jessica Bouwmeester and the help of many other people, a continuous turtle survey by Ian Penberthy and Jenny Linnell, and seminars in dive centres by Jessica Bouwmeester.
See our presentations in TOTA:
- Turtles
- Sharks (Powerpoint, 6 MB [4.607 KB]
)
- to be continued ...
Future projects are also in preparation such as public evening seminars, which started on the 8th November in Blue Beach, presentations in local schools, tyre removals and many others.
You can help the Volunteer Rangers by contacting them when you find discarded fishing nets, when you witness a violation and you have a photograph, or when you see a turtle (species if you are sure, date and time, dive site).
If you want to offer your support in any way, if you want to keep informed about the Volunteer Rangers activities, if you are interested in the next training session, please contact them by phone or e-mail.
E-mail: volunteer.rangers@gmail.com
If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter by email please give us your address.
Thanks to all the Volunteer Rangers Trainees and all the people who have supported us until now and special thanks to Emese Liliom who made this webpage possible.
Volunteer Rangers of Dahab, under the supervision of Ayman Mabrouk, manager of the Nabq Protected Area
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