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New shipwreck discovered for Technical Divers in the Red Sea

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A team from Red Sea Explorers has been the first to dive on a newly located wreck in the Northern Red Sea.

Following a lead from a trusted local fisherman, Faisal Khalaf and Michel Salsmans ventured into the deep waters near Gubal Island in search of this unknown wreck on 21 and 22 January. A combination of heavy currents, poor visibility, the estimated depth of the wreck and heavy ship traffic made access difficult. After arriving at the suggested coordinates, the team spotted the wreck on the depth sounder and after a battle to hook onto the wreck due to poor surface conditions and the current, they managed to descend.

Upon arriving at depth they found lots of pipes but no wreck. However, after 10 minutes of searching, they came upon a massive structure which was a magnificent sight to see. The wreck appears to have been a cargo ship carrying pipes. It is about 100m in length and approximately 15m wide. With two long masts, one at the stern and another at the bow, they discovered one life raft under the davits on the starboard side.

The following day, they went back to the location to conduct further exploration and identify the wreck. Again, the surface conditions and currents meant they needed to moor some distance away from the wreck itself. The pipes around the wreck make it easy to hook at the wrong spot. They spent 15 minutes reeling out to the wreck, which left only a short time to dive her. They recorded the dive on a GoPro but hope to return soon to get better quality shots.

So far the wreck is unidentified but the Red Sea Explorers team have named it Persistence: The Angle Pipe Wreck.

What is known so far:

  • Location: In the middle of the Traffic Separation Scheme North of Gubal Island, in the Northern Red Sea at the mouth of the Gulf of Suez.
  • Ship Type: Cargo
  • Cargo: Pipes
  • Ship Design: Twin Masts: One aft of the super structure and another towards the bow.
  • Dimensions: Length approx. 80-110m; beam approx. 15-20m wide.
  • Condition: The ship seems to be completely covered with growth, suggesting she has been there for a while, anywhere from early 1950s to 1970s.
  • Orientation: Sitting on her starboard side with her bow pointing north.
  • Topography: The wreck is sitting in a flat sandy patch with all the pipes and beams scattered to her east.
  • Depth: From 62-76m.

Dive Conditions:

  • Difficult/Advanced – Hypoxic Trimix Dive.
  • Lots of current, both on the surface and on the wreck.
  • Windy surface conditions make it tricky on the surface.
  • Expect difficulty hooking the wreck due the current and its orientation.
  • Visibility is 15m; 10m at depth.
  • A lot of fishing lines all around the wreck, divers must take cutting equipment.
  • Returning to the up-line is a must as drifting divers will be in the way of the massive cargo ships coming up and down the channel.

Life on the wreck:

The wreck itself is covered with glassfish. Groupers hide inside and giant trevally followed the divers around the wreck. Schooling Barracuda also showed up. The rich murky water makes it an excellent feeding and breeding ground.

The Red Sea Explorers team will be diving on her again soon, so stay tuned for more news!

Find out more at www.redseaexplorers.com.

Gear News

Introducing the Aqua-Trek Evo Drysuit from BARE

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drysuit

This lightweight Aqua-Trek Evo drysuit from BARE is patterned after the flagship X-Mission Evolution using the company’s exclusively engineered Cordura® Nylon Oxford 4-Layer fabric for a durable and breathable design. The Aqua-Trek Evo is ready for wherever your adventure takes you.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS

  • Lighter weight breathable material that offers enhanced flexibility over current butyl trilaminate
  • Lightweight low-profile plastic dry zipper
  • 2mm nylon/smoothskin “Smart Collar” with vented neck drain provides an improved seal with the BARE dry hood
  • Low-profile valves Lightweight low-profile plastic dry zipper and offset protected zipper flap to avoid contact between dry zipper and outer flap
  • Anatomically shaped torso, arms and legs
  • M-PADz knee protection with 2mm neoprene backing provides added padding for comfort
  • 2 needle “felled seam” construction increases seam integrity, is low-profile and less prone to abrasion, and finishes for a clean look
  • Flexible double-taped reinforcement at “critical wear” seam points for added durability
  • Bellow Pocket with D-ring and drain grommets on each thigh
  • Field replaceable 4-point suspenders and crotch strap
  • Tech dry boots installed

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Material:

  • Exclusively engineered and durable Cordura® Nylon Oxford 4-Layer fabric
  • Lighter weight, breathable material that offers enhanced flexibility, abrasion and puncture resistance

Find out more about BARE products at www.baresports.com.

Sea & Sea is the home of BARE and other Huish Outdoors diving brands in the UK.

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Reef-World marks two decades of marine conservation: strengthening impact amid coral reef threats

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reef world foundation

Empowering ocean stakeholders to tackle future challenges and ensure the survival of coral reefs and humanity

2024 marks the 20th Anniversary of The Reef-World Foundation’s tireless efforts for global coral reef conservation. The UK charity is the international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative, known as the leading voice in sustainable marine tourism. Today, Reef-World released its 2023-2024 Impact Report outlining a year of substantive growth and impact in its marine conservation programmes. 

Impact Report Highlights:

  • Impressive improvements in environmental behaviours to protect coral reefs by the marine tourism industry as the global participation of Green Fins increases.
  • Continued capacity building for government and NGO staff to effectively manage marine tourism activities in Asia, Caribbean and Red Sea regions. 
  • For the first time in Green Fins’ 20-year history, tourism operators have achieved ‘Best Environmental Performer’ status by demonstrating the lowest possible environmental impact in their environmental assessments. In 2024, three dive operators achieved this challenging milestone. 
  • Significant increases in global participation of Reef-World’s innovative digital conservation tools.
  • 138 Green Fins dive operator members achieved the strict threshold for PADI Eco Center recognition.
  • Developed four new educational materials and translated two into 16 languages to support the marine tourism industry in achieving sustainability targets.
  • Establishing a new Reef-World Development strategy and recruiting new roles – Development and Programmes Managers. 
  • Reef-World’s board welcomes new Chair and Trustees strengthening organisational leadership. 

Reef-World started as a one-person mission to inspire and empower communities to act in conserving and sustainably developing coral reefs and related ecosystems. Today, the team of 12 continues to meet this mission by inspiring and empowering the global marine tourism community to be exemplary sustainability leaders by using the Green Fins guidelines and tools to simultaneously use and protect the world’s precious reefs. 

In April 2024, the fourth global coral reef bleaching event was confirmed. Reef-World’s work has never been more urgent as the marine environment, and the benefits they provide humanity, continue to be eroded by global threats. The reduction of local threats, like those from the marine tourism industry, is an essential step to ensuring a future where coral reefs survive and continue to support the millions of people who depend on their ecosystem benefits. Reef-World’s work buys time for coral reefs and related ecosystems to be resilient to the impacts of global threats. 

 

“Right now our corals are facing the greatest fight of their existence as the terrifying predictions of the steps towards their complete extinction are starting to come true. But all is not lost, reefs are resilient and they have existed on this planet for millions of years. We must take action now, to buy time for reefs by reducing threats facing them and allowing them to react and adjust to the changing environment they need to survive in.” – Chloe Harvey, Executive Director

Looking Forwards: 

Like coral reefs, the Reef-World team needs to be resilient in the face of the complex challenges of the conservation sector. Reef-World has invested significantly in developing a Culture of Care to ensure the well-being of its team on a daily basis, continuing to be an exemplary employer to enable its team to best achieve the mission for coral reef conservation.

With the foundations of a Culture of Care and organisational development laid, Reef-World is emerging from the end of a natural organisation life cycle, that brings the challenges of growth and scale, stronger than ever. With a new strategy in place to generate much needed resources, Reef-World is excited for the opportunities to leap forward, continue to scale our impact and lean into new innovations and untapped opportunities for marine conservation. 

We continually strive to become a forward-thinking organisation that delivers on our goals and commitments to our stakeholders with fresh approaches and not being afraid of steering away from a “normal approach.” This approach is not only applied to our programmes of work but also internally and carries over to our Culture of Care for our team.” — JJ Harvey, Operations Director

reef world foundation

The Reef-World Foundation is immensely grateful for the continued support of its grant funders: UN Environment Programme, IUCN’s Blue Natural Capital Financing Facility, Adventure Travel Conservation Fund, PADI Aware Foundation, and World Nomads Footprints Program.

Reef-World would also like to express its gratitude to international partners whose vital support has resulted in significant tangible benefits for our work and mission: PADI; Professional SCUBA Schools International (PSS); Explorer Ventures; 1% for the Planet; ZuBlu; Snorkel Venture, GSTC; Dive O’Clock; Seven Dragons; DiveAssure and Eco Beach, without whom these achievements would not be possible.

The full 2023–2024 Annual Impact Report is available on Reef-World’s website.

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