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Dubai, the centre of whale shark research?
Australian expert says city could become an internationally-recognised monitoring centre, using the shark as a flagship species for conservation in the region.
- By Charles Stratford, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 December 3, 2005
Despite massive, ongoing offshore development, Dubai could become an internationally recognised monitoring centre for whale shark conservation and research, said a world authority on the subject.
"There is no reason why serious development offshore and onshore cannot go hand in hand with marine conservation projects which are well regulated and based on good management practice," said visiting Australian conservation biologist Brad Norman.
Talking at the monthly gathering of divers organised by the Emirates Diving Association [EDA], Norman said the whale shark could become the "flagship species for conservation for the region".
Norman is project leader for Ecocean, a research, education and conservation programme for whale sharks based in Australia.
Vulnerable
The eco-tourism project which he helped start ten years ago in Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia, encourages divers to record sightings and photograph the species. It generates around $12 million (about Dh40 million).
According to the World Conservation Union, the whale shark is vulnerable to extinction.
There have only been 320 recorded sightings globally since the mid 1980s. Norman says there is still much to learn about the life and migratory pattern of this plankton-eating giant. He encourages anyone interested to get involved.
"You don?t need to be a scientist to be involved. In the UAE, with government support, there is a great opportunity here for a similar project to engage divers and conservationists," he said.
"Whale sharks may move from UAE waters to Thailand. We just don't know at this stage."
Norman was interested to come to Dubai after hearing about the juvenile whale shark that swam into the Dubai Marina earlier this year.
Survival
So was this an indication of an animal in distress?
"The fact that it turned up in the Marina is promising but we can?t say at this stage. There might be many more out there but no one knows."
"Like any marine species they need an ecosystem that is healthy to survive in and we don't yet know how they are being affected by off-shore developments here," he said.
After the talk, EDA director Ebrahim Al Zubi stressed the importance of the idea as an example sustainable development.
"We should have a centre here, there is nothing like it in the whole region but yet again, lack of awareness and funding is holding us back," he said.
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