UAE | Environment
Coral reefs face fresh threats from development projects
Coral reefs in Jebel Ali on the border of Dubai and Abu Dhabi that bounced back from coral bleaching a decade ago could face a new threat from desalination plants and development, an international ecologist said.
- By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:50 September 18, 2007
- Image Credit:
- Desalination plants and other work could kill marine life, says expert.
Dubai: Coral reefs in Jebel Ali on the border of Dubai and Abu Dhabi that bounced back from coral bleaching a decade ago could face a new threat from desalination plants and development, an international ecologist said.
A coral reef cluster which stretches from the Ras Hasyan area to the Jebel Ali Hotel is among the largest patches of coral reef on the western coast of the UAE and is among the most diverse reefs in the Arabian Gulf, host to a range of species, John Burt, an environmental scientist and instructor at the Natural and Quantitative Sciences College of Arts and Sciences at Zayed University, said.
Speaking at Dubai Natural History Group community lecture this week, Burt said 25 species of corals and 86 types of fish have been observed off the coast of Jebel Ali on natural and man-made reefs. Prior to bleaching up, 34 species of coral had been noted.
The Arabian Gulf is the highest productivity area of coral and despite already surviving extreme conditions like high temperatures and salinity, the discharge from a planned desalination plant close to The Waterfront project could be at a higher temperature, causing dire effects on the marine life, said Burt.
"A three or four-degree Celsius increase in temperature can kill the coral. Global warming is a cause of bleaching and it is expected to occur in the area but it may have to do with desalination plants.
"It depends on where the exhaust pipe will be situated, it could be 1km away, but pumping water and chlorine possibly 10 degrees different to sea water could elevate the temperature in the area," said Burt, who is also working with the United Nations University in collaboration with Nakheel to design and implement a long-term environmental monitoring programme and sustainable management plan for the marine waters surrounding large-scale developments like The World, The Waterfront and the Palm Islands.
"There are other desalination plants on the coast of Dubai but there is no coral there," he said. The coral reef in Jebel Ali had a recorded 62 per cent of live corals before the coral bleaching of 1998 and 22 per cent after - since, the cover of live corals has reached more than 40 per cent. The area is not open to the public for diving or camping.
According to Burt, Palm Jebel Ali has encroached on the coral reef but the corals were dead at the time of construction from El Nino. Manmade reefs and breakwaters have revived the area but the communities of corals and fish flourishing in the area are distinctly different and less diverse than true natural reef communities.
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