Like Project AWARE, citizen science and education are at the heart of everything they do. Based in Dahab, South Sinai, Project Azraq collaborates with the local diving community to create lasting change through reef monitoring and Dive Against Debris surveys, amongst other actions. We caught up with Co-founders, Amy and Nour to find out more...  

Are you a scuba diver, ocean enthusiast, environmental activist or all of the above? Tell us about your passion for ocean conservation.

We are all three. Both our journeys started due to our love of the ocean and passion for protecting the environment. We entered the scuba diving world in order to connect to the ocean more. We hope that by combining all three, scuba diver, ocean enthusiast and environmental activist, we will have the biggest impact.

How did Project Azraq get started?

We were introduced by a mutual friend in 2017. Both of us were clearly passionate about conservation and education. Originally we wanted to go into Dahab schools to start marine education workshops for children, however, a mixture of circumstances meant the schools project didn't take off then. At the beginning of 2018, we regrouped and embarked on creating Project Azraq.

Due to our collective experiences in Dahab, living and working here, alongside researching what the town was lacking, we found there was a need for accessible marine education for people from all different backgrounds. There was also a need for consistently collected data from the region as currently there is a severe lack of it. Together these factors created an urgency for our project and a clear path for Azraq.

What does Project Azraq aim to achieve?

• Marine education available to as wide and diverse an audience as possible with a focus on the Red Sea.
• Implementing national programs to be used in business and educational facilities.
• Creating online platforms to bring marine education and current marine events to the public; we aim to do so in a relaxed and welcoming setting, which will allow us to reach an otherwise unattainable audience, who may not usually be interested in the underwater world.
• Expanding our reef monitoring program to different regions of the Red Sea in order to collect a detailed picture of Egypt's Red Sea coral ecosystems.

Why and when did you get involved with Project AWARE?

Before the project began, both of us would dive with mesh bags and include trash collection on our fun dives or whilst working as dive professionals. When the project began, we wanted to ensure we spread awareness of the good work Project AWARE does. Therefore we started the tradition of a monthly Dive Against Debris. In order to get the entire community involved, we approached dive centres around Dahab to host us for the monthly Dive Against Debris. So we could have a greater impact and better data collection, we adopted ‘The Bridge’ dive site as it is one of the worst dive sites for trash due to being in the centre of our main bay.

What are some issues that are affecting your local dive site or favorite underwater areas?

Unfortunately, we are consistently finding a substantial amount of cigarette butts and plastic wrappers which are around water bottle caps. Recently Dahab's mayor announced a ban on single-use plastic which gives us a lot of hope for the future of this beautiful town.

What are your top 3 pieces of eco-advice?

• Be aware of your surroundings. Treat everything with care and respect it.
• We can all make small changes in our day to day life to limit our impact on the ocean, whether it be reducing our use of plastic products or eating less fish.
• Don’t be afraid to speak up if you know someone is doing something which is wrong, whether it is intentionally or unintentionally. Be the voice of the ocean!