Protecting the Red Sea's Future
One of the world's most extraordinary marine ecosystems — and one of the most threatened. We build the evidence base that conservation and policy need to defend it.
A Sea Worth
Fighting For
The Red Sea holds some of the most biodiverse waters on Earth — heat-resistant corals, endemic species, and one of the last viable populations of the Endangered Oceanic Whitetip shark. It is also under growing pressure from fishing, development, and climate change.
The Marine Protection Foundation was established to respond with science — combining field research, AI-assisted identification, and citizen science networks to build the evidence conservation and policy need to act.
"A Red Sea ecosystem understood well enough to be defended — where data collected today shapes the marine protected areas of tomorrow."
To advance the conservation of Red Sea marine biodiversity through innovative technology, rigorous research, and community partnerships that translate evidence into action.
Technology
AI photo-ID, photogrammetry rigs, and citizen science platforms — data at scales fieldwork alone cannot reach.
Science
Every programme produces peer-reviewable data, built with scientific partners to inform national and international policy.
Community
Egypt's dive community extends our reach — turning every dive into a potential data point for conservation.
Field Science,
Built to Last
A growing portfolio of field programmes — each designed to leave behind something lasting, from open scientific data to global awareness.
Red Sea, Egypt · 2025 — OngoingShark Watch Red Sea
A multi-species shark conservation programme anchored by AI-powered photo-identification of the Endangered Oceanic Whitetip — building the data, community, and evidence base that Red Sea sharks need.
Learn more → Egyptian Red Sea · 2025 — OngoingRed Sea Photogrammetry
Creating precise 3D digital models of Red Sea reef systems to establish the scientific baselines conservation and climate research depend on — a permanent record of what is here before it changes.
Learn more → Sataya Reef, Red Sea · 2025 — OngoingDolphins of Sataya
Studying one of the world’s largest resident pods of spinner dolphins — mapping the resting, social, and breeding patterns of Sataya’s pod to design protections that let people and dolphins share these waters.
Learn more → Egyptian Red Sea · In ProductionThe Living Red Sea
A documentary series bringing the Egyptian Red Sea to a global audience — translating field science into stories that build the public will to protect one of the planet’s most extraordinary marine ecosystems.
Learn more →Evidence That
Changes Policy
Our work is measured not in expeditions, but in the lasting record it leaves behind — open datasets, identified individuals, and protected waters. Every data point is a step toward a Red Sea that can be defended.
“We learned these reefs by diving them for years. You protect what you know — and we are running out of time to know it.”
The team behind the Marine Protection FoundationBuilt on the Water,
Grounded in Science
The Marine Protection Foundation was established in Egypt by a team whose relationship with the Red Sea runs deeper than most — mariners, sailors, divers, and scientists. It grew from years spent on and beneath these waters, long enough to watch their character change.
A signed MOU with the Ministry of Environmental Affairs gave us the institutional footing to operate at national scale, with strong ties across dive operators, government bodies, and regional research networks — partners as much as colleagues.
We build programmes designed to generate high-quality scientific data that is open, shareable, and built to last.
From the Field
First photo-ID season closes with 340 identified individuals
Early results from Shark Watch Red Sea exceed projections for the Oceanic Whitetip catalogue.
Read →Photogrammetry baselines published for twelve reef sites
Open 3D datasets now available to research partners studying reef change.
Read →MOU signed with the Ministry of Environmental Affairs
A formal partnership giving the Foundation institutional footing to operate nationally.
Read →Working Together
Conservation at scale depends on partnership — across government, science, and Egypt's dive community.
Join Us in Protecting the Red Sea
Whether you are a researcher, diver, organisation, or conservationist, there are meaningful ways to contribute. The Red Sea needs advocates — and we are building the network to defend it.