MARSA ALLAM, Egypt: You come home from work, kick back and sleep. Your sheets are fresh, your bed is king-sized and you only wake up hours later, voluntarily. Now imagine a similar yet different scenario. You are trying to sleep, and every time you begin to rest and relax, a large group of noisy people barge in on you, poke you, forcefully hug you, touch you all over, then leave as abruptly as they came, with a different group barging in on you a few minutes later totaling an average of 800 intruders only to have it all happen again the very next day. Personally I would buy a shot gun and a set of explosives and wait for them the day after and remorselessly gun them down and blow the place up. But that is because I'm human, with an intrinsic sense of violence. If I were a peaceful, harmless dolphin incapable of such violence, what would I do under such intolerable stress and invasion? I would leave my home, and sleep in refugee camps until I found a new home. That is exactly what the Spinner Dolphins of Samadai did. A few years ago Marsa Alam was not as popular as it is today. It was a well kept secret amongst avid divers, and nature lovers. But then the secret of Marsa Alam came out, and with it the secret of the dolphins of Samadai was exposed to relentless, unaware tour operators. This particular dolphin house (one of the only three in the world) is a horse shoe shaped reef, 1.4 km long and 1 km wide, with the dolphins taking refuge deep inside it within its cozy confines for diurnal resting. The nocturnal species, Stenella longirostris, sleeps with half of its brain awake. This predictable pattern, though protecting them from Shark predation, exposed them to a different kind of predation; human greed. Knowing that the dolphins will be there by day to rest in the shallow waters of the reef at less than 20 m, and being so accessible at only 6 km offshore, businesses bloomed, bringing with them a wave of irrevocable environmental damage. Completely lacking in common sense and environmental sensitivity, the money-driven individuals would moor the boat close to the reefs in the heart of the dolphins resting space. Arguably, for a nation struggling to make ends meet, personnel from boat drivers to tour managers are driven by their own survival extinct. However, to be so blinded by such short term revenue at the expense of something as priceless as the environment which determines our own existence is downright unforgivable. The species is registered as” on the verge of extinction” says Beshoy Morise, and Environmental Researcher with the EEAA. Since one of the greatest threats to a species is to have their habitat destroyed, the Spinner dolphins of that area were in grave danger. What contributors to the dolphins' extinction don't know is that these dolphins lives contribute largely to the local economy. This is where the irony comes in. Those who feel no shame in pimping the environment for quick cash, are usually the ones to scoff at the concept of being humane animal lovers or conservationists. What they don't realize, is that the joke's on them. They're the ones who will lose out the most, and therefore they should be the ones to care the most, even if it's just for financial reasons. People who don't care about a species existence, or lack thereof, are not just heartless but also, to be quite frank, stupid. Everyone agrees that it is stupid to harm yourself and that is exactly what they are doing. Especially today, in a world where the ‘swim with' concept is blooming, filling a large tourist market niche, conservation and eco-friendly dolphin watching would be a much more profitable source of income, on the long term as well as on the short term, than scavenging and pimping could ever aspire to be. Before the government finally came to realize this, the dolphins, rendered homeless-started to leave, disappearing for days looking for another refuge. Their number decreased from 120 to less than 80 in a short time. Witnessing this atrocious behavior over the years drove nature lovers, sensible people, local eco-tour operators, and tourists to file complaints. Finally action was taken through the co-operation between HEPCA, the EEAA, The Red Sea Governoarate, and the National Parks Authority of Egypt. At the beginning, this ‘counter-action' was limited to prohibiting people from going inside the lagoon. Still, large numbers of people showed up in the area, and the distressed dolphins did not show any sign of improvement. It was then that a major plan was put in motion, one that included strict limitations on numbers allowed in the area on a given day plus a relatively high entrance fee, opening and closing hours and a strict zoning system. Marine biologists, rangers and scientists spent months studying the area, determining where the dolphins slept in order to establish the zoning system which has been in effect since the protectorate re-opened to the public in January 2004 Action Taken According to Beshoy Morise, the total number of visitors now allowed to be in Samadai on any given day is 275, limiting divers to a total of 100 and snorkelers and swimmers to a total of 175. Moreover every center is restricted to 20 tickets, adding to the limitations and discouraging large groups, that would inevitably be disturbing, from being present. The violation of these restrictions is first met with a fine, doubling the entrance price. If the same center should take this fine lightly and exceed its number again, they are banned from Samadai for a month. The third violation is met with a permanent ban from the protected area. Registration is done the night before the visit at the latest and unregistered boats are stopped from entering the area by rangers who are present daily. The zoning of the area was constructed scientifically to ensure the dolphins' privacy. The three zones A, B and C are distinctly marked with large buoys. Zone A is prohibited to all. The 90,000m² area is the dolphins' chosen home, where they rest, and where they are protected by Egyptian law from intruders and disturbance. Zone B is a 40,000 m² area limited to swimmers and snorkelers. No divers nor boats are allowed in that area. All swimmers are required by law to wear a bright safety jacket. The idea is to keep swimmers and snorkelers on the surface where they can't dive after the dolphins and try to touch them by force or ride them. Zone C is the remainder of the lagoon, a 693,000m² area where the boats are allowed to moor, and where people can dive and swim freely. The area has amazing reefs, and caves of exquisite beauty that they can be an attraction of their own. The system has provided the wild animals with security. They know where the boats are, where the people are, and where they can go for refuge. Sometimes they come out to zone C and can be seen by lucky divers and people on board of the boats, and sometimes they play in zone B with swimmers who have come a long way to see them. At the end of the day, they know that when they want to rest they can go home to zone A where no one will be allowed to follow, and where they can find sanctuary in the cozy confines of the horseshoe shaped reef. I was there. After a dive, they told us the dolphins have been spotted in zone B. We took off our diving gear and were driven there in a zodiac with a ranger. We put on our jackets and jumped into the water. We could see them far off heading to Zone A. Just as we were about to feel disappointment kicking in, they made a sudden turn and came towards us. A group of at least 40, they circled us and swam playfully around us, with the calves being the most curious and the ones that came the closest. Looking in their eyes was a sublime experience. A connection between two worlds was made. The played around us for a while before heading back to zone A and we looked forlornly after them where no one can follow… Eco Options Egypt
