Flood silt can feed dugong seagrass at Abu Dabbab, Red Sea reserves director says
Ahmed Ghallab says the nutrients reach bays such as Marsa Mubarak and Abu Dabbab, but warns that heavy silt and cloudy water can damage the same meadows.
31 October 2026
Seasonal flash floods running off the Red Sea mountains carry sediment and nutrients down into coastal bays, and in the right places that can help the seagrass meadows dugongs and green turtles feed on, according to the head of the Red Sea protectorates.
Ahmed Ghallab, director of the Red Sea protectorates, said seagrass is one of the basic building blocks of the Red Sea ecosystem, giving food and shelter to many marine species. The dugong, called "bride of the sea" in Arabic, lives mainly on it, and it is an important food source for green turtles as well.
Floodwater carries sediment into some coastal bays, moving nutrients from the land into the sea, and that may support seagrass growth where conditions suit it, Ghallab said. He added that the effect depends on how much sediment arrives, what it consists of and the conditions in each area: heavy deposition or water left too cloudy can damage seagrass rather than help it.
Marsa Mubarak and Abu Dabbab, both in the Wadi El Gemal protectorate near Marsa Alam, are among the sites he named, where seagrass pulls dugongs and green turtles into feeding grounds. Both are well known to divers and snorkellers.
Wadi El Gemal itself runs from mountain valleys through desert to shore and reef, which Ghallab described as a clear example of the southern Red Sea's environmental diversity. How far sediment travels from the high ground down the wadis to the coast varies with the soil, how hard it rains and the path the water takes.
For the communities living in the mountains and wadis, the same rain wets the soil and brings wild grasses back where conditions allow, improving grazing.
Turtle beaches
The sandy and rocky beaches of the southern Red Sea include turtle nesting sites, which need continuing protection from disturbance, particularly while females are laying and hatchlings are emerging. Protecting those beaches rests on:
- keeping litter and pollution down
- regulating tourist and beach activities
- not approaching turtles or interfering with their nests
The comments follow heavy rain over the mountains around Shalatin and the wadis south of Marsa Alam, including Wadi El Gemal, where water gathered into flood flows.