DEVELOPMENT OF JEDDAH DURING THE PAST 20 YEARS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MARINE ENVIRONJWEiVT

DEVELOPMENT OF JEDDAH DURING THE PAST 20 YEARS
AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MARINE ENVIRONJWEiVT
By
A.E. RIFAAT*, A.S. BASAHA~I, H.A. AL-WA.SH~II, R. A.
BANTAN AND S.]\,1. EL-NADIE
*Faculty ojAlarine Science, KAAU 80207. Jeddah 21589
Key words:
ABSTRACT
In 1983 the authors visited the Jeddah Corniche. At thaT time mosT
of The coasTal area of Jeddah City was nafliral and sandy beaches
i.-ere presenT along the entire shore excepT aT limiTed location.’)’ Hhere
the coastal road ifas construcTed aT The nonhern and middle parr of
the city. In 1999, the authors revisited the coastal zone and noTiced a
greaT variation. 111e Corniche extended furrher sourh. mosT of the
naTural beaches are filled. remO\’ed or replaced by constnlcrions and
resorrs. The reefflats were filled and the land was cut for the pl0pose
of bealtt~ficarion and resort construction. Also. the sewage plants
started dumping into the sea at some locations along the shore. The
indusTrial discharges are poured into the sea. Therefore, it was
neCeSSG1)’ to assess the impact oj these acriviries on The near-shore
marine environment ol! Jeddah. The Sllccess in implementing the
national developmenT programs, alThough adds economic benefits to
The nations, it exen a great load on the emJironmenT. The sTraTegy oj
the sTudy based on two approaches. The first was to collect
injonnation on the present staws of the near-shore marine
environment, shore occupation and activities and to define the marine
environment quality ol! Jeddah as reflected on the sediment
composition. The second approach is to analyze the (:ol/ected
infonnation. integrate them into one map using ‘what is known as
Geographic Injormation System or GIS and measure the impact of
human activities on the marine environment off Jeddah. The result is
a one-frame, multiple map. geographical(v linked data presenTation