Environmental Awareness Course for Diving and Water Sports Centers

  The oceans need our help urgently. With a fifth of the world’s coral reef systems lost due to warming ocean temperatures and ocean acidification from chemicals; with almost 49% of the global marine vertebrate populations in decline because of unsustainable fishing and plastic pollution; with approximately 75% of the world’s commercial fish population such as Tuna and Mackerel have been lost due to overfishing; our marine ecosystem is fighting to survive the challenges we are causing. The marine ecosystems are resilient, and they are fighting all the threats they face, but they won’t be able to survive if we keep adding pressure from our sector. 

  The biodiversity of the Red Sea is part of a unique, relatively healthy, and rich ecosystem. In 2019, the Egyptian Red Sea was voted the second-best diving destination, we are expecting a boom in tourism and traffic in our sector in the coming years. Our sector works directly in contact with the Red Sea, we take tourists to swim in it, we teach and guide tourists to dive in it, and travel on boats to visit our favorite dive spots. The way we work can impact the health of our wonderful sea in either a positive or a negative way, depending on the practices we apply. The health of our coral reefs and the marine ecosystem is in our hands. If we don’t properly care for it, we will lose the colorful corals and numerous fish species we have; the tourists will complain and stop returning to Egypt and we would have lost one of the remaining healthy marine ecosystems in the world. 

   Starting at the beginning of October 2020, the Chamber of Diving and Water Sports had launched environmental awareness courses for our sector. The environmental awareness course is designed to raise awareness and refresh the good environmental practices in our sector. It will also explain why and how to reduce a center’s, a boat’s or a pro’s negative impact on the Red Sea environment. This free course will be obligatory for all staff members, technical managers, and boat crew of a center in both the South Sinai and the Red Sea Governorates. A schedule will be created to ensure that within a year from the start date, all diving, snorkeling, and waters sports centers in those areas would have taken the course. An official CDWS card will be issued for all people who attend the course. Those who have not attended this course by the end of the below dates, will not be able to renew their working license. The technical managers will not be able to hire an employee who doesn’t have this card. 

1. If the center doesn’t register all its employees for the session by the end of the designated period, the center will be suspended from work, according to the Article No. 9 bis of Law No. 85 of the year 1968. The sanctions will be imposed on the technical manager. 

2. The CDWS member cards will not be renewed or issued to those who haven’t attended the session after the end of the given time period. 

3. Administrative and auxiliary jobs (desk, tank boys, drivers) must be committed to issuing this card that indicated their attendance before the end of the announced deadline, noting that the employee cards will not be renewed or issued after the deadline without attending this course first.

4. Once the deadline has passed, technical managers will not be allowed to hire any employee who does not hold a valid CDWS card to perform any activity.

1. To participate in the course, you must send us the following registration document to training@cdws.travel  

2. Please fill the attached registration form (Online, not by handwriting) In the document, you must fill out the center’s name and the number of Arabic speaking only (as a first stage of the training) specifying the number of foreign employees working in the facility, the CDWS will schedule a date for each facility, provided that the technical manager/legal representative must ensure the attendance of the listed employees in the specified date for the session. 

3. The technical manager must prepare two PDF documents, one with the photocopied national IDs card of the Egyptians participating in the session (front and back) and the second with the photocopied passports of the foreigners. The files must be delivered to the trainer on the day of the session. 

4. Regarding non-Arabic speaking staff, the CDWS will organize a separate environmental awareness course for non-Arabic speaking members. The dates will be announced later. 

  Together, we will work towards preserving as much as possible our Red Sea from the harmful impacts of our sector. The Chamber of Diving and Water Sports will work hard to raise awareness and introduce sustainable practices in our sector. This process will take time, and we can only achieve positive results with your participation and support.