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Sunday 8th June was World Oceans Day, A United Nations initiative to honour the world's oceans, celebrate the marine life and bring greater awareness of the role oceans have in daily life. Conservation and environmental issues are also part of the day and it brings a focus for groups to participate in beach cleanups, educational events, competitions and other activities based around the oceans. In Sharm el Sheikh , groups in the area were keen to participate in the initiative and work to protect the Red Sea environment that brings thousands of people to this Egyptian resort every day

Two particular issues concern the coastline around Sharm el Sheikh. One is to reduce the impact of rubbish on the beaches and the other concerns protection of the coral reefs that can be found in the waters off the resorts. Most of the beaches at Sharm el Sheikh are privately managed and are spotlessly clean but some are public areas used by tourists and locals and need closer attention. Dive company Camel recently took a party of 24 staff and guests to the Ras Katy beach and collected rubbish as part of Dive for Earth Day. ProjectAWARE is another conservation group that runs the CoralWatch project aimed at monitoring and protecting the health of precious and fragile coral reefs around the world. Ten dive companies in Sharm el Sheikh are members of the project and monitor the various coral beaches in the seas off the resort.

Clean Sharm is another initiative run by residents of Sharm el Sheikh that works with the government and local companies to protect both the desert and beach areas of the resort. The group holds regular Clean Up days and offers education programmes. Sharm el Sheikh is certainly a unique and beautiful place and it looks like all these groups and initiatives will help keep it that way.