Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
Providing science-based solutions to protect and restore ocean health
The Farasan Banks is a very unique and diverse marine ecosystem with more reef habitat per unit area than anywhere else we’ve surveyed along the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast. Like other areas, the major framework builders of these structures …
After another spectacular day exploring the Farasan Banks, I was once again enamored by the wonders of the Red Sea and the rich diversity of life that abounds on the reefs and in surrounding waters. We completed two spectacular wall …
Over the last few weeks, you’ve heard a lot about our SCUBA surveys, what we’ve seen, and the health and resilience of these reefs. One of our major goals during this Expedition is to identify areas of rich biodiversity, as …
Even though we are in a very remote location off the southern Red Sea coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, fishermen abound. There are many coastal villages near the Farasan Banks with large fishing communities. Many of our sites …
Most of us have read about the coral reef crisis and have heard about the factors that have contributed to the degradation of reefs – most often overfishing, pollution, sedimentation have been cited as the causes, and more recently climate …
During a dive on an inshore reef I saw my first cuttlefish, a pharaoh cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis). A cephalopod related to the squid and octopus, this animal has eight tentacles and two arms located in pouches beneath its eyes. It …
On most of the reefs I have dived on over the last ten days, I can always find a coral that is missing some of its tissue. Most often, it’s been eaten by some other animal. Two colonies of Acropora, …
Over the last nine days we have visited many exciting and unusual reefs, starting close to shore at the northern end of the Farasan Banks and slowly working our way south. We have seen some areas that appear, at least …
We headed east today in search of a dive spot protected from the swell, with hopes that the wind would die down. Good fortune, as conditions improved, and we were able to explore both the protected southeastern and exposed northwestern …
This morning we headed to Shib Ammar, a submerged patch reef at the outer edge of the Farasan Banks, some 40 miles offshore. Twenty knot winds from the northwest, and a 1.5 meter swell made for a wet and bumpy …
