The move comes days after a horrific attack by a “tiger” shark on a young Russian man off Hurghada, where it killed him and devoured nearly half of his body.
The Head of Nature Protection Sector at the Ministry of Environment, Mohamed Salem, said in statements to Sky News Arabia that the ministry is currently implementing a program which is mainly aimed at protecting humans from harm. linked to shark attacks, by monitoring and tracking the movement of fish in the Red Sea.
Dr. Mohamed Salem revealed that:
Egypt has imported 50 specialized American devices to monitor the movement of marine organisms. The devices have already been tested and proven effective in collecting data on the behavior of sharks in particular. These devices will be attached to the backs of the sharks and will be connected to satellites, providing precise information on every movement and behavior of the fish. The target fish will be repelled, attached to devices, and then released back into the sea. The focus will be on large fish over 3 meters in length, as studies have shown that these sizes commonly attack humans. The cost of a device is around 10,000 dollars, or about 300,000 Egyptian pounds. An American expert specializing in the operation and installation of devices in the marine environment has been hired to train the Egyptians who will implement the program. We only started the implementation after completing the necessary procedures and training, to ensure that the devices are installed accurately and that they will not fall into the water, for example, or affect not the fish studied, to ensure that the information received from them is correct and contains no confusion or error. The Red Sea has 50 species of sharks, but the program aims above all to study and monitor 3 species, which are “Tiger”, “Mako” and “Oceanic”, also called “Long Manus”, because all the attacks recorded on the Red Sea man in Egypt was the origin of the three most ferocious species in the Red Sea. The devices will be fitted to the females of these types of fish, as it has been proven in previous studies that it is the females that come out on beaches and attack humans. The program will initially be implemented in areas witnessing human activities, such as the coasts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam, as these areas have witnessed shark attacks. The duration of the study will be for a full year, during which the reasons for the sharks’ exit to the beach will be monitored, and whether it is related to nutrition or reproduction. The devices will monitor the movement of sharks horizontally and vertically, and the information that will be collected through this program will extend its results and benefits beyond Egyptian borders to the coasts of neighboring countries, as these fish travel more than 15,000 kilometers. per year. The program will be expanded and more devices will be imported if needed. We didn’t take long to put this program in place, because there are procedures and conditions that should have been met first. We began monitoring the phenomenon of shark attacks on humans 12 years ago, and the new device-based program represents an evolution of our efforts to answer new questions. Based on the information we collect, precautionary measures will be taken to protect humans from shark attacks in areas dangerous to them. The Mediterranean Sea is home to the most dangerous type of shark, which is the white shark, but this type prefers cold waters, so it lives in the north and has not been monitored off the coast of Egypt, and no shark attacks have occurred. was recorded on the Egyptian coast. in Mediterranean.
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