El Espíritu Paráclito: el Don que hace la Comunión

The Red Sea shores have an extremely long history of traditional uses including fishing, ports, trading and as navigation routes as man and his immediate ancestors have occupied the region for about 3 million years (Edwards & Head, 1987). Coastal settlements were generally small and sparse mainly due to the arid climate and lack of freshwater supplies and raw material. Exchanges with the non-coastal villages were also infrequent due to the poor infrastructure and lack of suitable methods to preserve fishery products. As a consequence, human activities were governed by artisanal management practices and were generally considered sustainable for the local environment (Edwards & Head, 1987).

In the last 40-45 years however, rapid economic development has led to a substantial expansion of Red Sea coastal urban areas (Edwards & Head, 1987) with the populations of the countries along the basin (Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel) increasing from about 5 to 9 million (Sheppard et al., 1992).

This extraordinary urbanization of the littoral zone has caused major increases in anthropogenic pressures on the marine ecosystem of the basin, including pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing and curio trade (Sheppard et al., 1992; PERSGA, 1998). These pressures are likely to have important consequences for the Red Sea ecosystem due to its innate vulnerability (semi-enclosed basin, strong reliance on the oil industry, high navigation risks, lack of marine resource information, poor coastal zone planning, and social and political instability) (Edwards & Head, 1987; Gladstone et al., 1999).

The most important regional agreement for the protection and conservation of the Red Sea is the Jeddah Convention (formally the “Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Environment”) signed in 1982 by the majority of the bordering countries: Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan,

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League and so Eritrea - part of Ethiopia since 1991 - and Israel were not invited. A few years later, in 1995, an official intergovernmental organization was established to implement the convention, known as the “Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden” (PERSGA). In 1998, PERSGA developed the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The SAP’s aim was the protection of the environment and the sustainable development of the coastal and marine resources (PERSGA, 1998). The major threats identified by the SAP for the region were:

• Widespread habitat destruction (unplanned coastal development, extensive

dredging and filling, destruction of coral reefs, mangrove areas, and seagrass beds).

• Unsustainable use of living marine resources (local/export overfishing, illegal

shark fisheries, turtle/turtle egg exploitation, incidental capture of marine mammals in fishing nets).

• Navigation risks, oil production and transport (ship collision, discharge of

sewage and solid waste, oil spills).

• Impacts of urban and industrial development (excessive use of water,

destruction during construction, discharge of municipal wastewater, industrial pollution, hazardous wastes, cooling water discharge, waste oil disposal).

• Expansion of coastal tourism (water extraction, destruction during

construction, sewage and solid waste discharge, disturbance to wildlife and habitats by tourists, illegal collection for souvenir trade).

• Other and Emerging issues (disposal of toxic substances, sedimentation from

agriculture and grazing, discharge of pesticides and fertilizers, development of wastelands, unmanaged expansion of small/medium industries, exploitation of offshore mineral deposits, shrimp and fish farming, ornamental fish collecting).

The identification of the threats for the region underlined in the SAP, led to the development of a strategy for habitat and biodiversity conservation that included five steps: developing standard survey methods, training specialists, executing the planned

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surveys, drafting conservation plans, and implementing the plans. In 2004, PERSGA published the “Standard Survey Methods for Key Habitats and Key Species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden” following methods currently used worldwide (PERSGA, 2004). Because knowledge of marine mammals was recognised to be poor, a list of basic tasks essential for their conservation was established, including the creation of a list of species present, the acquisition of data on cetacean distribution, abundance and habitat preferences, the identification of local threats.

1.6.1Further legal frameworks in Egypt

In Egypt, there are three main national laws that are of relevance for direct or indirect conservation of cetaceans (Wikipedia contributors, 19 August 2014; EEAA, 1998): (a)

Law 102 of 1983 for Nature Protectorates that provides the legislative framework for managing protected areas in the country; (b) Law 124 of 1983 concerning the regulation of fisheries; and (c) Law 4 of 1994, amended by Law 9 of 2009, that created the Nature Conservation Sector for management of Egypt's protected areas.

The international agreements that directly or indirectly affect cetaceans and that Egypt is party to are: (a) The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - UNCLOS

(Montego Bay, 1982); (b) The Convention on Biological Diversity - CBD (Rio de Janeiro, 1992); (c) The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals -

CMS or Bonn Convention (Bonn, 1979); (d) The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - CITES (Washington, 1973).

Egypt has also ratified two international agreements that include the waters of the Mediterranean Sea but not the Red Sea (the Convention for the protection of the marine environment and the coastal region of the Mediterranean, Barcelona Convention - Barcelona, 1976 and 1995; and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Contiguous Atlantic Area,

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conservation of Tursiops spp. in the Suez Canal, in light of the forthcomingincrease in size of part of the Suez Canal.