The Farasan Banks is an offshore coral reef system southeast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  The reef system  is fairly well protected from pollution and other stressors common to reefs near populated shorelines with fishing being a notable exception.  Being relatively remote, this area presented the expedition with an opportunity to assess the health of coral reefs attempting to understand the factors of resilience to climate change and how the existing governance structures could use such information to inform planning and management activities in the Red Sea. 

The Red Sea is resplendent in life in a very challenging environment.  Precious little rainfall creates stark barren landscapes on the islands that dot the Farasan Banks, yet when you look closely there is remarkable plant and animal life living here.  Pictured to the right is a small flowering plant living in the midst of desert rock.

A small team made a side trip to an island within the Farsan Banks.  The team included Dr. Bernhard Reigl, of the National coral Reef Institute and Ph.D. student Gwilym Rowlands who both study reef geomorphology.  As soon as we approached the Island both were astounded with the reality that we were walking on an entire fossilized coral reef.  These islands are the likely result of a uplift that occurred as a huge dome of salt uplifted the sea floor - imagine a lava lamp - and that resulting bubble pushed up the sea floor surface and it’s historic reef structure.  It is this process, combined with other tectonic rifts that seems to be shaping the land and seacapes of the Red Sea. 

Bernhard described the setting as a limestone island consisting of at least two raised old reef terraces.  The age of the first reef (the younger one) is likely to be 125,000 years old - and the second older one is likely to be less than half a million years old.  We were all impressed with the “very nice fault-line running though it - it exposes the internal structure of the reefal limestone of the lower reef unit” as Bernhard explained.  It shows that 125,00 years ago there was vigorous coral growth at least as good - if not better than today.

There was amazing bird life on the island. This is the Eleonora’s Falcon - a migratory species of falcon that breed in the Mediterranean area that follows the migrating songbirds south and uses the Red Sea Islands as hunting ground to knock off unsuspecting birds such as the Hoepoe - shown above.  Perhaps that’s why the Hoepoe like sitting on the deck of the boat... instead of taking it’s rest on one of these islands constantly patrolled by these falcons and hawks.

On another day, we had a wonderful encounter with the largest fish on the planet.   While we have seen four different types of sharks, all of them more typical of what one might consider the roving predator of the reefs, today we encountered the biggest of them all, the mother of all elasmobranchs - the whale shark!  Feeding entirely on plankton, these gentle giants roam the worlds oceans in search of food and pose no threat to people.  We swam with a pair, likley Mom and calf, lazily feeding on what appeared to be an upwelling of nutrients providing bountiful food for both.  A huge Manta Ray was nearby as well also feeding on plankton.  It's amazing to think how big these animals can get just feeding on plankton in the ocean!  A mosaic of submerged reefs, islands and very deep sea floor makes for great conditions for upwelling of cool waters into the warm blooming plankton for large animals like whale sharks and manta rays.

The team logged over 480 hours underwater at a total of 58 dive sites.  The work was comprehensive and exhausting and will generate a series of products that will be given to the Saudi Kingdom for use in considering marine protected areas.  Clearly, the handover of the results will be improved with a detailed understanding of governance within Saudi Arabia as well as the many other countries that border the the Red Sea, a very complex task indeed.  SustainaMetrix will be pursuing this work in the years to come and will provide updates.