Oceanographers classify seas in two categories: rich seas and poor seas. Rich seas are supplied by rivers with organic matter and minerals, nutrients for marine life. The Mediterranean, for example, is a rich sea because the Nile (as well as other rivers) flows into it, bearing a load of nutrient-laden silt. A poor sea, on the other hand, has none of these advantages. The Red Sea, which is not replenished by any river or much rain, is a poor sea.

It has something else, however: a coral reef system. The Red Sea is the only enclosed coral sea in the world. It is a natural habitat for more than 1,000 species of invertebrates and 200 soft and hard corals. The coral reef system is a productive system like a rainforest—almost akin to a living organism that provides habitat for marine life. Reefs are home to more species per square kilometer than any other ecosystem on the planet, commonly housing several hundred species of snails, 60 species of corals and several hundred species of fish in close quarters. All depend on complex, symbiotic associations to survive.

Reefs fall into two categories: fringing reef, which grows along the coastline and around the edges of islands, and barrier reef, which is usually 15-30 nautical miles from the coastline. Most of the reefs in the Red Sea, both along the coast and among the islands, fall into the former category. Seven percent of coral reef damage in the Red Sea comes from the diving industry, mainly from boats anchoring on the reef. To lessen the environmental impact of dive boats, the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), in cooperation with the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency and the US Agency for International Development, has installed more than 1,050 moorings throughout the Red Sea, making it the biggest mooring system in the world. This figure is double that of the Great Barrier Reef, and more than three times as extensive as the system in Florida Keys National Park.

HEPCA boats patrol the mooring sites daily, noting the numbers of divers and snorkelers and controlling activity. More importantly, the mooring buoys mean that captains need not anchor on the reef. “With the mooring buoys, we can reduce the divers’ damage to the reef from 7 percent to 2 percent,” says Amr Ali, who runs HEPCA. “The remaining two percent of damage is caused by accidents and novice divers breaking coral.” Even this damage, Ali says, is being reduced, as novice divers are no longer allowed to dive near coral.