Introducing Ghost Diving – Egypt
Towards the end of 2018, we set up a Ghost Diving chapter in Egypt. The initiative is being led by Sameh Sokar, with plenty of support from the rest of the Scuba Seekers team. We are still excited to be involved with this organisation that does such a fantastic job looking after our oceans.
So, what is Ghost Diving – Egypt all about and what do we do?
What is ghost fishing?
Ghost fishing is when fishing gear – like nets, lines or crabbing pots – breaks free, is abandoned or dumped. These nets, lines and pots are left to drift in the oceans. They continue to ‘fish’ even though we can’t recover what they catch, and they will catch anything.
Nets are particularly dangerous because they can be so large. They catch fish, which die and begin to decompose. This, in turn, attracts larger predators, who often also get caught in the net while trying to feed, creating a vicious cycle that leads to a lot of unnecessary death in our oceans.
But ghost fishing can also happen as a result of any waste being left in the oceans. If it’s capable of ‘catching’ marine creatures, it can ghost fish. That means plastic waste or even lost anchors are other things that need to be removed from the sea as soon as possible.
What does Ghost Diving – Egypt do about it?
We want to remove the source of this ghost fishing. Like all the other Ghost Diving chapters around the world, we’ll work to remove any nets, lines and other fishing gear we come across to prevent more creatures being caught and killed and to protect our reefs.
It’s not just as simple as picking them up and taking them out of the water though. There’s often a complicated process to removing commercial fishing gear because it’s so large. We make sure we plan our dives so that we stay safe, and so that the reefs aren’t damaged while we’re removing the nets or lines.
We also work with other Ghost Diving chapters to share knowledge and resources. Our first project was carried out with the assistance of Imad Farhat from the Ghost Diving Lebanon team, and since we have carried out a cleanup dive with some Dutch Ghost Fishing divers and with Neptunes Army of Rubbish Cleaners (NARC). Take a look at our Facebook page to see some videos of these dives.
As well as organising clean-up dives to remove ghost fishing waste, we arrange beach cleans and host talks at the dive centre to raise awareness of the problem. We want to encourage more of our local community involved in not only removing the waste that’s already in our oceans, but also preventing dangerous items from going into the sea in the first place.
Due to the Covid19 pandemic lockdown, we were not able to be in the water as much as we would have liked. But with the gradual reopening, we were again able to organise big cleanup dives, with our Scuba Seekers team and the last one in collaboration with NARC.
How you can help
If you’re a diver anywhere in Egypt, please tell us if you come across any ghost fishing gear that needs to be removed. You can get in touch with us through our Facebook page. We have contacts all over Egypt and will happily do what we can to help make sure that any nets are removed safely from our oceans.
If you’d like to get involved in some of the cleanup dives that we organise, come and talk to us or contact us through Facebook. We are always looking for new members to join our team and can give you training on how to remove ghost fishing gear safely. We usually dive on technical configurations to give us time to safely remove the ghost fishing gear.
We are committed to making our oceans cleaner, healthier and safer for all their inhabitants, and we love to hear from anyone who shares our mission.
Photo Credit: © Nacho Peláez