Saudi Arabia makes up 80 percent of the Arabian Peninsula, bordered by two bodies of water, the Arabian Gulf to the east and the Red Sea to the west. While increasingly, much of the seafood humans consume is farmed essentially through aquaculture, both the legacy of, and the remaining capture fisheries along Saudi Arabia's 2,640-kilometer coastline continue to impact the Kingdom's fish populations and wider ecosystems.
"Although about half of the seafood consumed globally is aquaculture produced and capture fisheries capped a couple of decades ago, much of the global ocean has been overexploited," says Dr Rusty Brainard, Chief Environmental Sustainability Officer at The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC).
"Many of the prized target fish populations have declined by around 90 percent globally. Saudi Arabia is moving forward positively, and capture fisheries have stagnated across the Kingdom. Around 65 percent of Saudi Arabia's capture fisheries are in the Arabian Gulf, and the other 35 percent are in the Red Sea. This number will decrease, as the Kingdom works to establish a network of marine protected areas as part of broader efforts to protect the environment and establish sustainable ecosystem-based fisheries management. Fishing will either be tightly controlled or banned, within these designated areas. With less area to fish, fish production from capture fisheries will likely either stay level or decline and aquaculture production is projected to significantly increase. The recovery of these areas to wilderness state is beneficial to both biodiversity and tourism."
The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) being established for The Red Sea Project (TRSP) and AMAALA, two of the giga-projects announced by HRH Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud in 2017, will be home to one of these marine protected areas. Collectively, the giga-projects will open new areas of economic activity, create jobs, cultivate entrepreneurial activity and drive economic development in line with the objectives of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
Upon its completion in 2030, TRSP will offer 50 resorts, 8,000 hotel rooms and more than 1,000 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites across its 28,000 km2 of pristine lands and waters. The massive project aims to deliver a 30 percent net conservation benefit by 2040. To meet this ambitious figure only 22 of the more than 90 islands, and in total, less than 1 percent of the 28,000km2 are being developed, and the destination will be powered with 100 percent renewable energy.
The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), the developer running the project, has pledged not only to minimize any stress the development might put on the environment being developed, but to actually improve the environment for the area.
Dr Rusty explains the approach. “It is typical for coastal development to alter ecosystems and increase stress on marine environments," he says. "The Red Sea Project is significantly different and will have the opposite effect. We are utilizing the project as a means to enhance the environment. As we aim to contribute a 30 percent net conservation benefit by 2040 across the project area, we are implementing a number of ambitious initiatives. Our projects are a seed of life that will make the biodiversity of our destinations thrive. The net positive expansion of Saudi Arabia's green and blue habitats and their associated biodiversity is an essential contribution to the global fight against the climate and ecological crises and an invaluable legacy for current and future generations."
Regenerating the Marine Environment
The conservation and regeneration of TRSP's ocean and coastal areas contribute a huge proportion towards the 30 percent net conservation benefit the company aims to achieve by 2040. Of the ~20,000km2 area of the planned SEZ, almost 7,000km2 is marine, and planning is presently underway to establish the entire area as a No-Take Marine Protected Area (MPA).
"We're trying to enhance biological diversity by 30 percent over 20 years," says Dr Rusty. "A key part of this enhancement lies in having such a large No-Take MPA. TRSP is going to be a global example of what can be achieved by establishing such a vast No-Take MPA in an area that has been heavily fished over a long period of time, and where, as a result, targeted populations are now depleted. The unique aspect of the proposed No-Take MPA is the potential for significant recovery across such a vast area. Most existing large MPAs are in remote areas that were previously lightly fished due to isolation, and most MPAs in human-populated areas only cover tiny areas, comparable to a postage stamp in the ocean, which has made population regeneration hard to quantify, as we know, fish don't follow the lines on a map."
The closure of capture fisheries will see fish populations regenerating, but this isn't an overnight process. "We are expecting to increase fish populations by three to five times from what they are currently, but this depends on the species of fish," Dr Rusty says. "Some fast growing and short-lived species can recover in a few years, but for larger and longer-lived fishes, such as some groupers, snappers, and sharks, it will take a decade or more for these populations to return to a more natural state. It’s surprising to many people, but many reef fish have lifespans of 20-40 years or even more – for example a bumphead parrotfish can live over 30 years, and a bluespine unicornfish, over 50 years.
The implementation of the No-Take MPA and the resulting recovery of fish populations is key to regenerating the marine environment. Coral reefs are vital for a healthy marine ecosystem, and support around 25 percent of the diversity of all marine life. "The benefits to the marine environment of the fish populations being restored to a natural state are tenfold. The fish impact the entire system and help to restore natural balance in their coral reef ecosystems, for example, corals are in a constant battle with algae to occupy and maintain space on the reef. Certain species of fish and invertebrates eat algae, so they are actually helping the coral. Remove to many of these herbivores from the system by excessive fishing, can mean that algae will outcompete corals, causing reefs to become algal rather than coral dominated," Dr Rusty said.
In addition to endangering protected species, fishing off the Red Sea coast is causing extensive anchor damage to coral reefs. "Fishing boats purposely anchor on coral reefs because that is where the fish are," says Dr Rusty. "At present, there are about 1,400 registered boats operating in TRSP area. We consistently come across discarded anchors, and there are probably thousands in our area. During a recent 30-minute dive, our team recovered 18 lost anchors in a 30 mile radius and over one weekend in July, and the team removed 79 lost anchors from another location."
As well as overcoming the problem of discarded anchors, an end to fishing will also benefit the coastline, with a reduction of fishing debris washing up on the shores, which has been to the detriment of shore birds and protected species, such as sea turtles that can become entangled in lost or discarded nets.
The regeneration of the marine environment follows TRSDC's business model. "This work, of course, enhances our business model which is tourism," says Dr Rusty. "People want to visit and see abundant populations of fish in spectacular natural and wild environments. Its rare now for people to be able to experience coral reefs in their truly natural state, as truly wild places are almost entirely limited to extremely remote and inaccessible places. Recovery at the scale we expect, particularly the large fish which tend to be most exploited and depleted elsewhere, will not only benefit biodiversity, but also make Saudi Arabian coral reefs enormously attractive to visitors and locals with a passion for such a spectacular marine environment. There have been studies of the value of protecting coral reefs with the establishment of MPAs, and the regenerative tourism value is about ten times the value of the fishery itself, in economic terms."
This feature appeared in Environment, Coastal & Offshore (ECO) Magazine's 2021 Autumn edition, to read more access the magazine here.
