430
Legal framework and constraints have been set to control the human activities in
the coastal lagoons. Law 124/1983 regulates capture fishery and aquaculture activities in Egypt. The Law 4/1994 and its enhanced version 9/2009 on the protection of
the environment constitutes the main legislative act in the field of environmental
protection and promotion.
Two coastal lagoons in Egypt were designated as Ramsar Sites. The first lagoon
is the Burullus wetland, which was declared as a natural protectorate in 1998. The
protectorate includes the lake, its islets, as well as the sand bar between the
Mediterranean and the lake. This habitat is very important for migrant birds for
foraging, refuge and breeding. The second lagoon is the Bardawil lagoon, also designated as a Ramsar Site in 1988. Very limited eco-friendly human activities are
allowed in the surroundings of the lagoon. All development activities are forbidden
inside the protectorate except salt production. Other coastal lagoons are unprotected,
apart from the Ashtum El Gamil Protected Area (declared by Prime Ministerial
Decree 459/1988), which encompasses a small area (c.35 km
2
) located along the
sandbar at Bughaz El Gamil, in the Manzala lagoon. Constrains include land reclamation, pollution and illegal fishing practices (Cataudella et al. 2015).
In order to establish a successful volunteer monitoring program, the necessary
steps to plan and manage were mentioned in the international guidance of EPA’s
“Volunteer Water Monitoring: A Guide for State Managers”. Topics in this guide
include how to establish goals, identify data uses and users, assign staff responsibilities, establish a pilot program, prepare a quality assurance plan, and fund a program (USEPA 2002).
The Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) has a wetlands
policy that copes with the Ramsar Convention to strength the objective of protection
and enhance water resources management and the overall aquatic environment on a
sustainable basis. The policy includes promoting and encouraging fresh water conservation and the efficient water utilization in different water use categories.
Natural wetlands rehabilitation is in the Egyptian policy is worked with the wetlands protection in the process of water resources management (USEPA 2002;
Fahmy et al. 2007).
Establishing quality assurance and quality control in many environmental issues
was distributed and now well known. There are five major areas of uncertainty that
should be evaluated when formulating data quality objectives as listed by USEPA
(2002). These areas are accuracy, precision, representativeness, completeness and
comparability. Accreditation for environmental laboratory that holding ISO 17025
certificate is recommended.
13.10 Summary and Conclusion
Wetlands and coastal lagoons are valuable and sensitive environments as recognized
by Ramsar Convention. They described wetlands as the kidneys of the landscape.
Egypt has many forms of wetlands. Different efforts have been done to classify the
A.A. El-Gamal
Legal framework and constraints have been set to control the human activities in
the coastal lagoons. Law 124/1983 regulates capture fishery and aquaculture activities in Egypt. The Law 4/1994 and its enhanced version 9/2009 on the protection of
the environment constitutes the main legislative act in the field of environmental
protection and promotion.
Two coastal lagoons in Egypt were designated as Ramsar Sites. The first lagoon
is the Burullus wetland, which was declared as a natural protectorate in 1998. The
protectorate includes the lake, its islets, as well as the sand bar between the
Mediterranean and the lake. This habitat is very important for migrant birds for
foraging, refuge and breeding. The second lagoon is the Bardawil lagoon, also designated as a Ramsar Site in 1988. Very limited eco-friendly human activities are
allowed in the surroundings of the lagoon. All development activities are forbidden
inside the protectorate except salt production. Other coastal lagoons are unprotected,
apart from the Ashtum El Gamil Protected Area (declared by Prime Ministerial
Decree 459/1988), which encompasses a small area (c.35 km
2
) located along the
sandbar at Bughaz El Gamil, in the Manzala lagoon. Constrains include land reclamation, pollution and illegal fishing practices (Cataudella et al. 2015).
In order to establish a successful volunteer monitoring program, the necessary
steps to plan and manage were mentioned in the international guidance of EPA’s
“Volunteer Water Monitoring: A Guide for State Managers”. Topics in this guide
include how to establish goals, identify data uses and users, assign staff responsibilities, establish a pilot program, prepare a quality assurance plan, and fund a program (USEPA 2002).
The Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) has a wetlands
policy that copes with the Ramsar Convention to strength the objective of protection
and enhance water resources management and the overall aquatic environment on a
sustainable basis. The policy includes promoting and encouraging fresh water conservation and the efficient water utilization in different water use categories.
Natural wetlands rehabilitation is in the Egyptian policy is worked with the wetlands protection in the process of water resources management (USEPA 2002;
Fahmy et al. 2007).
Establishing quality assurance and quality control in many environmental issues
was distributed and now well known. There are five major areas of uncertainty that
should be evaluated when formulating data quality objectives as listed by USEPA
(2002). These areas are accuracy, precision, representativeness, completeness and
comparability. Accreditation for environmental laboratory that holding ISO 17025
certificate is recommended.
13.10 Summary and Conclusion
Wetlands and coastal lagoons are valuable and sensitive environments as recognized
by Ramsar Convention. They described wetlands as the kidneys of the landscape.
Egypt has many forms of wetlands. Different efforts have been done to classify the
A.A. El-Gamal