UAE | Environment

Artificial reefs to undo red tide damage in UAE

Environmental authorities are hoping artificial reefs placed off the coast of Fujairah will help replenish the marine environment on the East Coast which has endured a tough year coping with red tide.

  • By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:02 June 14, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Gulf News
  • An environmental worker puts together pieces of a mould for an artificial reef structure during a demonstration.

 

Fujairah: Environmental authorities are hoping artificial reefs placed off the coast of Fujairah will help replenish the marine environment on the East Coast which has endured a tough year coping with red tide.

Natural corals and marine protected areas suffered the most as fish deserted waters swamped by the algae blooms which menaced the shoreline for about six months.

A total of 10 reef balls, three reef structures and one recycled plastic structure were put in place about half-a-kilometre offshore, at a depth of 15 metres, opposite the Le Meridien Al Aqah hotel on Sunday.

The project, initiated by the hotel and Al Boom Diving club, is supported by Dibba Municipality.

Reef balls are made by pouring concrete into special molds made to certain specifications and weigh between 500kg and 2.5 tonnes apiece. Special lift bags filled with air are attached to tow them to their permanent location by boat.

The recycled plastic structure is made up of concrete and Eco-wood, a material manufactured by a plastics recycling factory in Jebel Ali, Dubai, called Eco.

At the moment, the marine environment close to the hotel is 'total desert', said Simon Tambling, managing partner of Al Boom Diving club who has been diving in the area for 30 years.

"The fish are on the structures now checking it out and, by the end of the year, we should be seeing the first growths," he said.

Sam Joffe of Al Boom added that the artificial structures were deployed as part of an international project to rehabilitate the world's ocean reef ecosystems.

Currently the closest natural coral area to the hotel is Snoopy Island, a popular snorkelling spot.

Hassan Al Yamahi, general manager, Dibba Municipality, said the project will be tested at different locations along the coast and implemented on a larger scale if it proves successful. "We will see in the next six months to a year and evaluate the results," he told Gulf News.

Dibba Municipality had previously placed around 400 concrete domes, or caves, to act as artificial reefs in the four already exisiting protected areas.

"This area is mostly sand, so we will see if it works. The impact of red tide is hard to judge. It was messy but now it is clean and reefs are growing on top of the original ones. On the reef balls, it will not grow very fast so we will wait and see," Al Yamahi said.

Patrick Antaki, general manager of the Le Meridien Al Aqah, said: "We've been planning this for a long time and we're very happy that it is finally happening."

 

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