Preserving Marine
An Overview of the Center's Role in Preserving Marine
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has delegated the role of protecting the biodiversity in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf waters to NCW due to its importance in sustaining marine ecosystems. The Center’s responsibility lies in preserving the marine and coastal environment by developing concrete actions to manage and conserva marine species and habitats, rehabilitating degraded marine habitats and ensuring the sustainability of marine organisms and ecosystems.
The Center's Objectives for Protecting the Marine Environment
- - Developing management and conservation plans for marine and coastal species and habitats via a cyclical process of conservation, with frequent and periodic assessments of achievements and contributing to ensuring their sustainability for current and future generations.
- - Identifying threats that affect the marine environment through the results of systematic field surveys conducted by NCW.
- - Providing environmental education and training to consolidate the skills, concepts and ethics of preserving the marine environment and the wildlife it contains.
The Center's efforts for protecting The Marine Environment
Studies and Surveys
The Saudi coastal areas in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf include many habitats such as coral reefs, seagrasses and mangroves that are of great environmental, social, economic and cultural importance to the Kingdom. The Center plays a critical role in conserving these rich systems through systematic surveys that continually monitor and evaluate the health and function of coral reef ecosystems, seagrass fields and mangrove systems in Saudi Arabia’s waters. The National Center for Wildlife (NCW) conducts studies and surveys on the marine environment to obtain a better understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of marine species, including large marine animals, in the Saudi waters of the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Preliminary research on the distribution, abundance, ecology, and biology of marine mammals (dolphins, whales, and dugongs), sea turtles, sharks, rays, and seabirds enables NCW to continuously monitor changes in the size of species populations and habitat degradation and identify threats to them. The results from these studies will be used to develop conservation plans for these ecologically important species and to continually enhance them to ensure their sustainability. The results of these studies also work to educate the public and increase national, regional and international awareness of the importance of the need to preserve marine creatures.
Emergency Response and Monitoring
The center plays a proactive role in rapid response to emergency situations such as:
- - Marine pollution.
- - Marine boat accidents.
- - Epidemics of damaging marine species.
By conducting a rapid damage assessment and taking the necessary measures to deal with threats to marine organisms and habitats, NCW is in a position to determine the best practices and solutions that lead to the smallest possible impacts on the marine environment. NCW develops plans on approaches to preserving the marine and coastal areas using information and results of research/studies, including identifying and designing marine protected areas (MPA) in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.
Marine Habitat Rehabilitation
NCW is mandated with the rehabilitation of degraded marine ecosystems, through practical and efficient recovery means. These efforts include identifying and assessing the status of degraded habitats, benchmarking rehabilitation practices against global best practices, and implementing field trials prior to full-scale rehabilitation efforts.
