An overview of the status of Bardawil Lake environment: Contemporary constraints, current government policy and proposed sustainable actions

Abstract

The water quality of Bardawil Lake and its fisheries significantly deteriorated resulting in a steady decrease in the available fish catch. The Lake is of importance to the local indigenous population, who rely on it for practically all their income in this arid area. Over 5,000 fishermen representing 5,000 families from all the cities of North Sinai Governorate operate in the Lake, which serves nearly half of the governorate's population. Some restricted agricultural recovered land that has been planted with olives, peaches, watermelons, and dates is another source of revenue. Overfishing has also resulted in further fish population declines. However, we can resolve these problems by Lake's restoration. New physical interventions can aid in the restoration of the marine ecology and fish population of the Lake. The principal strategy for enhancing the Lake's environmental characteristics is to improve water exchange with the Mediterranean Sea by stimulating tidal action. Deepening existing inlets, in combination with other Lake-designated sites, will result in a considerable increase in fish population, which will be noticeable in the first year after the restoration operations and will continue to grow over time. The interest of the Egyptian leadership in the Bardawil Lake project, in complementarity with the Sinai development strategy, will contribute to increasing the productivity of the fisheries in the Lake and provide direct and indirect job opportunities for Egyptian citizen.