Shark finning, in which captured sharks have their fins and tails removed for use in sharks fin soup, has been a prominent issue in many parts of the world, including the Arab Gulf region. Considered a major delicacy in China and other parts of the Far East, shark fin soup was recently banned in restaurants in Hong Kong. 

The UAE has made efforts in the past to control the practice of shark finning, and is now becoming more involved with trying to stop this terrible practice.  It  joined together with six other Arab countries to sign an agreement to protect migrating sharks in Middle East waters from illegal shark trading including finning.

As reported in the Gulf News, delegates from the UAE, Mauritania, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Jordan, Somalia, Syria and Comoros met  in Dubai recently to sign a historic agreement and attend a workshop organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in association with the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water.

Although officially banned by the UAE in 2011, the practice of shark finning has continued worldwide; with more than 500 tons of shark fins being sent annually to the Far East. Shark fins have come also from the UAE and other regional countries.

Peter Pueschel, IFAW’s Director of International Environmental Agreements, told The Gulf News: “To increase the protection of sharks to necessary conservation levels, first and foremost, the over-fishing needs to stop and trade in their body parts needs strict controls and regulations.”

Pueschel added that until recently, the practice of shark fin trading was “unregulated and uncontrolled” in the UAE and most other markets in the world.

Andrea Pauly, an Associate Program Officer for the Convention on Migratory Species Secretariat , said that sharks play a vital ecological role as “filter feeders and top predators in the marine environment” to keep the oceans healthy.

Whether or not local fishermen and marine sea products traders will take these actions seriously remains to be seen. It would be unimaginable to see the world’s seas and oceans devoid of sharks, which are some of the oldest living marine animal species on earth. The new shark saving actions by 7 Arab countries may be too little, too late.

Read more on the cruel practice of shark finning and other Middle East marine life issues:

Hong Kong Bans Shark Fin Soup and Blue Fin Tuna

Despite Ban, UAE Remains Market Hub for Shark Fins

Death Ray Dolphin Killing in Persian Gulf May be Worse Than Shark Slaughter

Photo of dead UAE sharks courtesy of Oliver clark/Gulf News

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A Kuwaiti in Canada uses Google Earth to uncover how a banned method of Middle East fishing is being used to trap an estimated 31,000 tons of fish per year. 

According to Pew, who funded the research, most of the unreported catch occurred in the coastal waters of Bahrain and Iran. The researchers also found 17 illegally operating weirs in Qatar, which banned the gear in 1994.

Overfishing in many parts of the world has often been blamed as one of the prime factors in the decline of fish and other forms of marine life in the worlds seas and oceans. This problem is especially prevalent in the Arab Gulf region, where Gulf states like Dubai have finally gotten serious about overfishing.

Oman, another Gulf region country, “gave the boot to bottom trawling” by commercial fishermen.

An ancient method of trapping fish in coastal waters, known as Weir trapping or fishing Weirs, has been prevalent in Arab Gulf waters in recent times, reports the CBC.

Weir fishing involves the placing of v-entrance shaped underwater traps into which fish swim and afterwards cannot find their way back into open water. Fishermen afterwards simply net the hapless fish found swimming in the trap enclosure. Weir fish traps have been in use for hundreds of years; and have been especially effective in the mouths of coastal streams and rivers to trap fish like salmon returning to spawn.

In an interview made with Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, a Kuwaiti PhD student at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Center, she said that the amount of fishing using Weir fish traps in the Arab gulf has been grossly under-reported to UN fishery monitoring agencies.

“We should realize what’s being reported to the UN is likely an underestimate. That has implications for fisheries management,” she said.

Ms. Al-Abdulrazzak, who is currently working on ocean governance at the UN added that the fish traps often snare large numbers of immature fish before they have a chance to grow up enough to spawn.

(Photo  below shows Weir trap locations in red)

Al- Abdulrazzak added that she recalls seeing many of these Weir fish traps along coastal waters in her native Kuwait. She told CBC News that she decided to use satellite images created by Google to determine how many of these traps are found in the Gulf.

After four months of checking, she found no less than 1,900 of these fish traps. By talking with local Gulf fishing scientists on amounts of fish catches reported, she estimates that weirs in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Bahrain scoop up about 31,000 tons of fish a year, or about six times the amount actually reported.

In addition, Al-Abdulrazaak found that three regional countries, Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia reported no fish catches by Weir traps. Noting that her estimates “are huge” she adds that what she estimates are likely to be closer to the truth involving fish catches by this method.

She hopes that using resources like internet photo images, which does not cost much money, can lead to better controls over this kind of fishing; especially since Weir fish traps are used  world-wide.

Read more on overfishing issues in the Arabian Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East:

Dubai Finally Gets Serious About Overfishing

Bottom Trawlers in Oman Get the Boot

Why Dolphins Have Disappeared from Israel’s Shores

Photo of Weir Fish Trap locations in the Gulf by IB Times/Google Earth

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The Arabian Gulf has waters that are some of the world’s most saline; and where water temperatures often reach as high as 35 degrees Celsius during the hot summer months. Despite these harsh realities, the waters of the Gulf contain a variety of aquatic plants and animals.

These include mangrove forests which provide food and shelter for birds, fish, dugongs and rare sea turtles.

The Gulf state of Qatar has mangrove forests that are in danger of being damaged or destroyed by developers who want to “eat up the shorelines” according to The Gulf Times.

Efforts are now being made to preserve and restore these natural buffers from  severe storms; and  which also provide havens for birds, fish and other animals.

Studies also indicate that mangrove forests may store up to eight times more carbon than tropical rain forests.

RELATED: 10 ways Abu Dhabi leads the Gulf’s Green Revolution

Ajmal Khan, Qatar’s Shell Professor in Sustainable Development and Professor at the Department of International Affairs at Qatar University told the paper that mangroves are comprised of species of plants that can withstand the harsh weather conditions in Qatar.

He explained that the mangrove’s root systems anchor the plants into the underwater sediment, thereby slowing down incoming tidal waters and allowing organic and inorganic material to settle into the sediment surface.

Replanting of Qatar’s mangrove forests is being accomplished by volunteer university students planting seeds in designated areas to enable new mangroves to grow in locations like Purple Island (on the outskirts of Al Dhakira). The students, who undertook this project on their own, called it their “Mangrove Restoration Campaign”.

Other Arab Gulf states with mangrove forests include Abu Dhabi, whose Bu Tinah Atoll wildlife refuge. Another mangrove forest site, near Dubai, is said to have become so prolific that camels may be employed to chomp down runaway mangrove forests.

Whether the issues involve trying to perserve these natural wildlife habitats and coastal area preserves, as in the case of Qatar; or managing the size of them, as in the case of Dubai, it is a wonder that these aquatic forests can survive as well as they do in such an extreme climate area as the Arabian Gulf.

Read more on mangrove forest habitats in the Arabian Gulf:

Dubai’s Camel’s to Chomp Down Runaway Mangrove Forests

WATCH: Protecting Mangroves in the Arab Gulf

Protect the Middle East’s Natural Wonders – Vote today!

Rare Sea Turtles and Other Wildlife Living Happily on Persian Gulf Atoll

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Property developers have taken a lot of heat for ruining Dubai’s coral reefs after a few decades of rapid expansion all along the Arabian/Persian Gulf coast, so in 2008, Nakheel worked with conservationists, ecologists, engineers and others to relocate nearly 24,000 square feet of coral reef about 11 miles.

“This was one of the largest coral relocation projects ever conducted globally, with over 20,000 coral colonies spared from the effects of infrastructure development,” Marine Biologist John Burt told Gulf Today.

It wasn’t easy.

“Our coral move was an engineering first,” said Ali Saeed bin Thalith, Director of Development and Operations at Nakheel Marine Group. “We were in unknown territory when we undertook the exercise, which involved moving more than 1,100 coral-encrusted rocks, each weighing about five tonnes.”

The group had to use non-toxic glue to attach metal rods to each coral-encrusted rock and then hook that up to a sling. Each rock was then hoisted onto a 295 foot barge without leaving the water and transported to its new home – the controversial World Islands’ breakwater.

“The techniques used to transport the corals underwater with minimal handling were a world first and showed the creativity and ingenuity that can arise when engineers and ecologists work together for conservation purposes,” said Burt.

Remarkably, the coral has thrived in its new home. Gulf Today reports that the 20,000 coral colonies moved in the process have expanded by roughly 20 percent, and has even attracted fish species that have never been seen in the region before.

Nakheel’s engineering feat was the subject of a recent Discovery Channel documentary.

Meanwhile sunken art is helping to rejuvenate coral reefs in Qatar. Coral reefs around the globe are deeply vulnerable to changing pH levels and bleaching as a result of higher water temperatures.

Some reefs have shown themselves to be more resilient than others, and Abu Dhabi’s corals are said to be tougher than the rest, but any kind of loss threatens marine ecosystems.

:: Gulf Today

Image of tropical fish, Shutterstock

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Masdar’s research wing is less popular than its world-changing renewable energy initiatives, but they’re the first government-backed organization to dig deeply for causes of and cures to so many of Abu Dhabi’s self-inflicted “eco-woes.”

Bringing great transparency to the nation and indeed the entire Arabian peninsula, Masdar has helped to launch Abu Dhabi’s image as one of the few Islamic nations to tackle its previously neglected environmental responsibilities – and with great haste at that.

Pioneers of the first ultra-modern solar-powered desert community in the Middle East and North Africa, Masdar has also branched out to Spain and the UK, along with several developing countries, in order to fund and develop solar and wind-powered plants with varying generation capacities.

They’ve helped Mauritania, the Seychelles and may head into Egypt (if the country ever stabilizes), and have plans to extend their reach even further, but in the meantime, all kinds of very important research is taking place back home.

Most recently, Masdar Institute announced that it has partnered with Bayanat to “develop water quality monitoring tools in the Arabian Gulf using the satellite receiving station at the research-based institution.”

Detecting red algae blooms before they strike is one of the most important issues MI and Bayanate hope to address.

Like early warning systems for earthquakes and hurricanes, this satellite-fed information data will allow researchers to warn coastal communities and fisherman when it is necessary to protect their marine environment against an incoming algae bloom.

“The project, which uses satellite imagery from Europe’s Meteosat and Nasa’s MODIS satellites, also aims to forecast and monitor other environmental hazards such as oil spills, water turbidity – or cloudiness due to particles – and high chlorophyll concentrations,” writes The National’s Vesela Todorova.

Also crucial are desalination plants.

With just a few days worth of fresh water in reserves, Abu Dhabi’s population would suffer a great deal if its water-purification facilities were compromised by algae blooms. Knowing that they’re about to strike would prevent damage to the plants and secure the emirate’s water supply.

Led by the Ocean Color Research Group at Masdar’s Earth Observation and Hydro-Climatology Lab, the project team is also studying the impact of desalination plants on the Gulf’s marine ecosystems. Research conducted elsewhere suggests that they should be a last ditch solution given the toll they exact.

Within just years of starting my work at Green Prophet, it is very encouraging to see the progress that has taken place in Abu Dhabi with respect to its willingness to become accountable for the well being of its natural resources, and therefore, by extension, its people.

:: The National

Image of red tide, Shutterstock

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Since Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all share the Arabian/Persian Gulf with Iran, a radioactive leak from the Bushehr plant constructed in 2011 could potentially effect all seven countries.

Some of the GCC member countries raised their concerns last month at an annualInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in Vienna, Austria.

Spooked by the April 9 earthquake in Southwestern Iran, the GCC countries formed an emergency meeting to discuss the potential ramifications of radioactive material leaking in the water than binds them all.

Mohammad Ahmadian, the deputy director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, brushed off their worries in a televised interview, according to Scidev.net.

Later, in an interview with local press, Ahmadian claimed that the Bushehr plant was constructed to withstand earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 8 on the Richter scale. He also said that it will shut itself down in the event of any earth movement.

Despite claims that the plant is perfectly safe, GCC’s assistant secretary general Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is not convinced, and implored Iranian officials to allow an international team to inspect the site.

“Iran should be more forthcoming in allowing international inspection of Bushehr to reassure its own citizens and neighbours about the safety of the plant,” he told Arab News.

Farouk El-Baz, director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, warns that the environmental impact of the Bushehr plant could be devastating if it is neglected.

He told Scidev.net that the Gulf countries are well within their rights to expect safety assurances from IAEA experts given that some of the components of the Iranian nuclear plant are quite old. But another expert, Mohamed Salama, emeritus professor at Egypt’s Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority, urges calm.

Citing the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Salama notes that the plant survived the earthquake, but that the resulting tsunami caused most of the damage to the reactor.

“The real disaster came from the tsunami that swept over the sea wall and knocked out the backup generators, leaving the reactors without their cooling systems. The reactors then overheated, there were explosions and radioactive material escaped.”

He also told the paper that Iran wouldn’t have spent $10 billion on a plant that would be vulnerable to seismic activity.

:: Scidev.net

Image via Telegraph

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Dr. Laurie Marker from the Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) recently gave a series of talks for the Emirates Natural History Group in Al Ain, the second largest city in Abu Dhabi, according to The National.

She has worked with cheetahs for the last 40 years and is the current custodian for the international cheetah stud book, which lays out the most sensible breeding schedule for cheetahs held in private collections throughout the world.

Dr. Marker urged Emiratis to either register their cheetahs or start their own breeding program – anything to keep the species alive.

However, despite relatively lax legislation, Emiratis who have illegally purchased cheetahs are subject to fines as local authorities attempt to curtail illegal wildlife trade. And neighboring Ajman, home of the Green Sheikh, has banned private ownership completely.

Dr. Marker urges private owners to come out of the shadows in order to help save the animals they love from certain extinction by sharing information with the CCF and among themselves.

“It seems like here it’s behind closed doors,” Dr Marker said, The National reports.

“I’ve been told that many people don’t want anything to do with sharing, and yet it is so much better to share.

Dr Anne Schmidt-Kuntzel, who also works for CCF, laid out a unique plan to help Emiratis know how to help preserve the species. Animals taken from the wild are especially valuable, genetically,

“If the owner is not able to breed cheetahs because they are isolated or have just one animal, she said, “a veterinarian can collect the sperm and then bank it for the future so that the genetic diversity of the individual is available to future generations if needed.”

Wildlife conservation is tricky. Sometimes it’s necessary to turn a blind eye to behavior that is detrimental to an individual animal as a pragmatic approach to saving the species as a whole.

Hunting is like this. And certain zoos.

But we never thought we’d come across a conservationist willing to condone cheetah captivity. That being said, Dr. Marker does point out that the ultimate goal of any conservation program is to get wild animals back in the wild – where they belong.

Bravo to the UAE for inviting this conversation. It’s an important step that promotes greater transparency and education, both of which will eventually result in a populace that understands the intrinsic value of all animals.

:: The National

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“Corals have a symbiotic relationship with algae that live within their tissue and provide them with food,” Dr John Burt, head of the marine biology laboratory at NYUAD, told The National.

There are a variety of algae that have varying levels of heat tolerance, he added. So he and other researchers involved in a study initiated in 2011 expected to find that the algae within Gulf coral would be somehow different from other algae.

Such a determination might have explained why Gulf coral is unusually resilient. But that isn’t how the story unfolds.

It turns out that the study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin reveals algae that is the same as that found in other climates where coral has a low threshold for heat.

Speaking to Vesela Todorova with The National, Dr Joerg Wiedenmann, head of the coral reef laboratory at Nocs said, “We see that the algae are indeed special in Gulf corals but in a way that we did not expect.”

“Our results suggest that the algae are not solely responsible for the heat resistance of Gulf corals and that we need to look closer into other mechanisms that might render the corals more resilient,” he added.

In other words, Gulf corals are special. But nobody knows why.

Meanwhile, check out how underwater art is rejuvenating coral reefs in Qatar.

:: The National

Stock image of coral and scuttlefish, Shutterstock

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Second, there’s a council of tall buildings? Who thought that would be a good idea? Third, there’s another giant Burj building in the Arabian Gulf, as if one of those wasn’t enough. (Granted, Burj means Tower in Arabic, so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that there is more than one.) And lastly, is there really any such thing as a best tall building? 

Just to give our readers a sense of perspective, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 2717 feet tall, whereas its baby brother (really, can a building like this be considered anything other than a young strapping boy?) is just 761 feet tall.

There’s a lot of feet between them, so Burj Qatar, a.k.a Doha Tower, already sounds a lot better to us than the Burj Khalifa, which is really exciting (and hard) to look at from the ground, but which doesn’t really make the earth a better place to live at all.

Qatar’s Burj also has a really interesting facade comprised of layers of what look like mashrabiya screens that regulate the tower’s interior temperature. It is this and the nod to vernacular architecture that the CTBUH loved it so much.

“Doha Tower is an excellent example of an efficient modern tower that is inspired by its local culture and setting,” said Antony Wood, executive director of the CTBUH. “In an age of homogenized slick towers globally, Doha Tower is rooted to its place. This is not a non-specific icon which you could drop into any city of the world.”

First selected as the best new tall building in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Burj Qatar has since scooped the prize that architects of all giant towers would love to have. Except that Nouvel couldn’t be there to pick up the prize.

These and more incredible pictures can be found on www.asergeev.com

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Just today we read about an Egyptian artist who has spread her creative wings since Mubarak’s fall only to have them clipped again by increasing powerful Islamist groups. Despite such obstacles, or perhaps because of them, there are untold numbers of talented people pushing past the ruins of war and oppression in Egypt, Gaza, Iran, and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa in order to expose important environmental concerns. We have put together a list of six groundbreaking projects with an eco-concience that are slowly changing how people in our region relate to the natural world. 

1. Acqua by Raha Shirazi

This beautiful film clip packs incredible power into just over one minute. Filmed by the Canadian-based Iranian filmmaker Raha Shirazi, it depicts a young woman who walks through the snow with a jug slung over her shoulder. She is looking for water, but she is heading for the same spot that always meets her water needs. It’s a poignant look at the relationship between women and water, and points to the reality that some water gatherers have already found their springs dried up.

2. The Tehran Monoxide Project

While Raha Shirazi works mostly out of Canada, a group of intrepid artists in Tehran launched the Tehran Monoxide Project to protest against the extraordinary pollution that is literally choking the Iran’s residents. Posters put up in visible areas depict children playing outside in parks with giant plumes of dirty pollution hovering above their heads, raising a genuine concern among parents about the health affects associated with one of the world’s most polluted cities. The picture above was taken from another project that draws attention to deforestation.

3.  Palestinian Artist Dreams of Turning Gaza Tunnels into Metro Stops

Mohamed Abusal dreamed about converting the ubiquitous tunnels of Gaza, which are used to smuggle goods in from Egypt, into Metro stops! So, he took a Metro sign and photographed it in front of key spots throughout Gaza and displayed the entire collection at the French Cultural Center. Although it doesn’t seem to have an overtly “green” slant, public transportation saves energy and increases the mobility of poor citizens without creating undue environmental hazards.

4. Zabaleen – A Film About Egypt’s Garbage People

Coptic Christians in Egypt have been dealing with Cairo’s trash for decades, recycling up to 80% of it. And anyone who has been to Garbage City know what a daunting task they have. Everywhere trash spills out of dumpsters and fills gutters since the municipality has long neglected to establish a more efficient waste treatment system. But the “garbage people” are terribly marginalized. This fantastic film directed by Justin Kramer depicts the quality of their day-to-day life.

5. Hanging Laundry Photographs

Titled ‘Intimacy Under the Wires’, Israeli photographer Sivan Askayo says that of her hanging laundry photography that it began “in the vibrant alleyways of Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood” and has since taken her to Madrid, Barcelona, London, Florence, Venice and Buenos Aires in order to capture images of anonymously displayed drying clothing, which she hopes will encourage more people to eschew energy-hungry dryers in favor of this far more environmentally-friendly practice.

6. Underwater Art is Rejuvenating Corals

This last project was not conceived in the Middle East but definitely has potential to draw increased awareness to the plight of our water ways. Jason deCaires Taylor creates underwater sculpture parks that double as artificial coral reefs. These eerie spaces are designed to revitalize bleached and otherwise fragile coral reefs around the world. In our region, coral reefs in the Gulf and the Red Sea are particularly vulnerable.

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