RIYADH: A survey of the Red Sea has identified nearly 200 species of fish and numerous threatened and endangered species of turtles nesting off the Saudi coast.
The survey, carried out by Red Sea Global (RSG) – the developer behind The Red Sea and Amaala projects – is one of the world’s largest environmental surveys of wildlife ecosystems carried out along 250km of the Red Sea coastline.
It covered species and natural systems in the areas around Lake Al-Wajh and north of the Amaala site.
Conducted in 2022, it identified 74 hawksbill and 145 green sea turtle nesting tracks at Amaala, with 251 of the former and 613 of the latter in the Red Sea.
There were also 193 fish species recorded during the 69 Amaala surveys, with the most diverse families being wrasse (36) and damselfish (24).
John Pagano, the CEO of RSG, said the company believed its development projects played a pivotal role in renewable tourism and in protecting the natural habitats of coastal and marine areas.
The study was supervised by a specialized scientific team from RSG with the support of global partner groups to ensure the application of the latest methods and technologies in monitoring critical natural assets.
Pagano said in a report published earlier this month: “We’ve set a quantifiable target of achieving a 30 percent net conservation benefit by 2040, and we will continue to publish annual updates that measure our progress toward this ambitious goal.
“Key to that is setting a baseline from which we track progress and ensuring we are fully informed and understand the incredible biodiversity that surrounds our developments.”
