For the love of shark and rays in UAE

DUBAI A Dubai woman is encouraging UAE residents to post sightings of the region’s sharks and rays on her website in order to help her study and conserve the species better.

“You can’t protect what you don’t know,” says Leb-anese-born Canadian Rima Jabado, 35, who recently won a $6,000 Conservation and Environmental Grants Programme Award from the Ford Motor Company for her work on sharks, rays, guitarfish and sawfish in the UAE.

“There are so many species in the waters of this region that its incredible. Some of them are endangered or are threatened with extinction,” adds Jabado, who calls her project ‘Your Eyes on Elasmos’, that aims to promote ‘citizen science’ in areas of conservation of the threatened species through a series of workshops starting next month.

Phd study

Jabado, a resident of Dubai for eight years, says she started the project as part of her PhD study on ‘shark fishery in the UAE’ at Al Ain’s UAE University last year. “Today it is all part of an initiative aimed at gaining a better understanding of elasmobranch species (a subclass of cartilaginous fish, that includes the sharks and the rays), abundance and distribution in the Arabian region,” says Jabado, adding that many species are being heavily exploited and despite regulations and management measures in place across the region to protect certain species, data on most elasmobranchs here remain sparse.

“New species are still being discovered. So individuals can now help support conservation efforts by reporting their encounters with these animals either underwater or at landing sites. They can be our eyes in the field,” she adds.

Last week two rare killer whales were spotted off the coast of Abu Dhabi.

For more info visit:Jabado’s website: http://www.gulfelasmoproject.com/