Diving in the Red Sea was in its formative years during this time, and our founding members were the first generation to discover this unparalleled underwater eco-system. It was this more than anything that endowed our community with a strong sense of stewardship over this natural environment. These natural resources soon became the lynchpin of a community alliance, based on preserving one of the world’s most important repositories of marine biodiversity.

Among a series of mounting environmental threats, it soon became apparent that the diving community had to form into a visible association to represent the industry and prioritize environmental conservation.

In 1992, a meeting between twelve members representing the diving community proposed a permanent mooring buoy system, which had proven to significantly reduce reef damage and eliminate the need for anchoring on the reef. The meeting resulted in the designing and installing of approximately 100 mooring buoys, which inaugurated HEPCA’s inception as an Egyptian NGO.

What started as a small community initiative to establish mooring points to protect the reefs, has now evolved into a leading and internationally recognized NGO. Our local mooring project has evolved into the largest mooring system in the world with over 1000 moorings installed and maintained throughout Hurghada, Safaga and the southern Red Sea. The system has also been successfully adopted in Saudi Arabia, Aqaba, and Jordan.

Although our scope of operations now encompasses a wide range of local and international initiatives and projects, we have not diverted from our original objectives of protecting and conserving the terrestrial and marine ecology of the Red Sea.

HEPCA was born from the passion of a few of individuals to protect an eco-system of magical beauty. As our movement and campaign continues to grow, we hope that our model can inspire global citizens to strengthen their own communities and become that positive change that is so desperately needed in our world.