Ancient coral in the warm waters of Jordan’s Red Sea have resisted global warming induced bleaching, proving to be a fascinating case study into the preservation of reefs around the world.
The value of this phenomenon is not lost on Abdullah Momany, a dive operator and former marine biologist based in the sea-side Jordanian city of Aqaba.
“In my opinion, the coral reefs in Aqaba are more precious than Petra,” Mr Momany said.
Mr Momany said the high latitude and depth of the Red Sea had a stabilising effect on the Gulf of Aqaba’s water temperature.
Climate change has impacted reefs in every region around the world, including Australia’s own Great Barrier Reef, which has suffered to two thirds of its coral.
Coral can survive bleaching as long as rising ocean temperatures return to average, but this is tough given the upward pressure of global warming.
In the Gulf of Aqaba, a junction between Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Red Sea coral appears to be unaffected by climate change.
A has found the northern Red Sea is retaining ‘healthy coral populations with elevated bleaching tolerances’, because they had acclimatised to the naturally warm temperatures in the gulf.
The findings, published in February 2018, conclude that the region represents ‘a thermal refuge of global importance.’
Aqaba opens to a small stretch of the Red Sea and is Jordan’s only access to the ocean.
Competition between businesses in the region is fierce with industry, tourism, conservation areas and a major port all operating within 27 kilometres of the coastline.
Aqaba Marine Park director Abdullah Abu Awali, says a monitoring program set up in with the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), found 157 species of hard coral alone in the district.
“The main challenge for our marine park is the development projects,” Mr Awali said.
The Aqaba Marine Park’s partnership with ASEZA has been vital in protecting this biodiversity and health of the coral. It has implemented a ‘zero discharge policy’, prohibiting any pollution from local industry into the sea.
Mr Momany said accidents and pollution can still jeopardise the reef, including one incident in when Aqaba’s port was towards the Saudi border earlier this year.
“It damaged one of the most important reefs we have in Aqaba, which is a wall dive site from 12 metres down to 100 metres. Most of that reef is now dead. Not even one per cent of that coral survived,” he says.
But to him, the biggest impact has not been from residents, but from industry, resort owners and investors, and the flow on impact from tourism heavy markets of neighbouring Egypt and Israel.
“A lot of the reef is becoming rubble due to mass tourism,” he said.
“When one plastic bag covers a piece of coral, the next day you will find it dead, because the sunlight has been blocked.”
“They say Petra is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and people come from all over to see it, but the coral reefs are older and more precious.”
The author travelled to Jordan as part of , a University of Technology Sydney (UTS) programme supported by the Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR), which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
