Egypt’s Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad on Thursday witnessed a practical training session in the city of Hurghada to study the behavior of sharks on the country’s Red Sea coast.
The Nature Protection Sector team was taking part in a two-day session, described as the first of its kind in the entire Red Sea region.
Julia Spaet, an international expert specializing in the field, is supervising the program.
Fouad said that the course aims to train the team on installing monitoring devices and sensors to monitor shark behavior.
The training covers three types of sharks responsible for all recorded incidents in the Red Sea in recent years, according to local and international statistics.
The risk factor and precautionary measures required during this period of the year as well as the numbers and sizes of sharks in the vicinity of Hurghada are also being assessed.
On Wednesday, the Environment Ministry anounced the start of the preparatory phase for the study.
The total study will extend for a period of up to 18 months in three phases.
The first phase is considered a preparatory stage for collecting data on previous incidents, analyzing the current situation, and manufacturing sensors.
Workers in nature reserves will also be trained to install these sensors to monitor shark behavior, all of which will be installed in the second phase.
The third phase includes analyzing the data collected by the sensors at different time intervals.
According to the Environment Ministry, the procedures for installing the sensors will include determining the type, size, and the general condition of the sharks.
On June 8, a Russian tourist was killed by a shark while swimming off the coast of Hurghada.
The footage of the attack went viral on social media.
The Environment Ministry formed a committee of specialists immediately afterwards to investigate the circumstances of the inccident.
Tourist destinations on the Red Sea among Egypt’s largest, with hundreds of tourist and hotel facilities, in addition to dozens of infrastructure facilities serving the industry.
Egypt’s Red Sea resorts host some of the country’s most renowned beach destinations and are popular with European travelers.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the governorates of the Red Sea and South Sinai contained 511 hotels in 2022, in addition to 439 centers for marine activities and diving.
