Mooring buoys to protect coral reefs

Dubai: Mooring buoys have been placed at crucial anchoring points near coral reefs on the East Coast to prevent boats from lowering their anchors on precious marine biodiversity.

Three mooring buoys were launched last month at Dibba Rock and Inchchape 1 by the Emirates Diving Association (EDA) and the Earthwatch Institute.

Dibba Rock, which is part of the Dibba Marine Reserve, has two of the mooring buoys which were sponsored by Earthwatch. The grant received went towards the purchase of steel chains and other necessary material for the buoys to be released.

Made of reflective material, the mooring buoys can be easily spotted during the night. These buoys can then be used by up to three boats at a time, instead of anchoring on the seabed, and potentially damaging it.

Qasim Barwani of the Dibba Marine Environment Research Centre involved in the anchoring of the buoys said the new buoys will be extremely useful. Previously mooring buoys were of bad quality or tied with rope.

"Fishermen coming at night would not see the buoys and the propeller would cut the rope and the floats would get lost. Now we are using steel chains. The fishermen are not supposed to be coming into the reserve anyway but if they do, their propellers will be damaged - it's the other way around now," said Barwani.

"We have another 8 or 10 sites that need mooring buoys all the way down to Khor Fakhan and the Coral gardens," he added.