Many Red Sea megafauna populations are globally threatened, yet basic facts—where animals are, how often they’re seen, and when—are still poorly known. Since 2018, KBD has been closing that gap with coordinated vessel, piloted-aircraft, and drone surveys across the region, building a defensible evidence base for conservation and planning. Programme totals to date exceed 5,800 km of vessel surveys, 26,000 km of aerial surveys, and 6,000+ sightings.
In the northeast Red Sea, decisions about permitting, zoning, and protection must be made despite limited, fragmentary records for dugongs and other marine mammals. The brief: deliver year-round coverage that maps spatial density and distribution, with a particular focus on dugongs, while capturing other priority megafauna.
From January 2024 to January 2025, KBD executed intensive vessel transect surveys and drone transects/focal searches across the northeast Red Sea. The design combined long-range coverage with targeted follow-ups to ensure that rare or elusive species were recorded reliably and that distribution patterns could be compared across seasons.
A year-round, air-and-sea programme turned scattered records into a single, defensible baseline for the northeast Red Sea. The dataset shows where priority species are present across seasons and gives planners the confidence to focus protection and mitigation where it matters most.
Survey effort delivered: ~2,400 km of vessel transects and ~17,000 km of drone flights (Jan 2024–Jan 2025).
Encounters recorded: ~450 marine mammal encounters, including dugongs, Indian Ocean humpback dolphins, and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins; frequent observations of green and hawksbill turtles, reef manta rays, and tiger sharks.
What it tells us: Year-round presence and clear high-use areas for multiple species—new evidence for a region with previously limited data.
How it’s used: Supports zoning and hotspot protection, informs construction timing windows, and provides defensible inputs for exclusion zones and vessel-speed limits in permits and monitoring plans.
Forward value: A standardised baseline that can be repeated to track change, measure the effect of management actions, and guide targeted investment.
Effective protection of marine megafauna depends on knowing where and when vulnerable species use the Red Sea. By converting fragmented sightings into a year-round, defensible baseline, KBD enables confident planning, targeted protection, and evidence-based mitigation in a region facing rapid coastal development.
Hotspots and movement patterns to prioritise safeguards and avoid conflicts.
Smarter MitigationEvidence to set exclusion zones, vessel-speed limits, and construction timing windows that reduce risk to dugongs and dolphins.
Regional Knowledge GainNew data where almost none existed, strengthening national and Reserve-level management.
With a multidisciplinary team of over 150 professionals KBD combines local talent with global experts under one roof. Our mission is to drive transformative change and help achieve the nation’s Vision 2030 by providing strategic, science-backed solutions.
