Protected Areas for the Coral Reefs of the Red Sea

The growing popularity of the Red Sea has led to an increase in human usage of its resources and with rapid deterioration of the ecosystem. In response to this trend, the government has created marine protected areas (MPAs) where the ecosystem can be preserved. These MPAs are particularly important not only to coral reefs, but also other marine species in the area, such as sea turtles (Gladestone, 2000). 

Ras Mohammed National Park in Egypt; Source: http://www.101worldtravel.com/2010/09/21/ras-mohammed-national-park/

Of all the countries around the Red Sea, Egypt has a particularly strong conservation program, with over 35,000 squared kilometers of protected area (Pilcher and Abou Zaid, 2000). Egypt's government has done this mainly to protect the specific region from SCUBA divers and the threat of anchor and flipper damage (Pilcher and Abou Zaid, 2000). In addition to efforts by individual countries, there has also been cases where countries have worked together with the common goal of protecting the area. For example, the Red Sea Marine Peace Park was founded in 1994 by the governments of Jordan and Israel to preserve and protect the area's coral reefs (Portman, 2007).

While MPAs are important, their implementations have not always been the most successful due to a lack of funding or other resources (Gladestone, 2000). Thus, these MPAs require more government attention and public awareness .