Through its five-decade long journey, the United Arab Emirates has kept a close watch on its biodiversity, with animals and plants remaining a key part of its identity. Images like the date palm, the camel and the falcon are routinely associated with the country, yet there are many other species that the country and its leaders have worked to conserve.
In Abu Dhabi, the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) has led conservation efforts, setting up a network of protected areas, and promoting awareness about the various species that call the emirate and its waters their home. It currently manages and oversees 13 terrestrial protected areas, and six marine protected areas, as part of its Sheikh Zayed Protected Areas network.
After the Arabian Oryx was declared extinct in the 1970s, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the UAE, launched a successful conservation programme. The UAE is now home to the largest population of Arabian Oryx in the world, with more than 6,900 individual animals.
The Arabian Oryx is a medium-sized mammal weighing up to 80kg. They are mostly white in colour, with darker facial and leg markings. Traditionally, the animals were hunted for their meat and hides. Habitat loss due to construction and development also played a role in the extinction of the species in the wild. Today, they are mainly found roaming around Abu Dhabi’s Qasr Al Sarab Protected Area, and the Arabian Oryx Protected Area.
The EAD has been protecting dugongs since 1999, conducting aerial investigations, mortality investigation and genetic studies. The population in Abu Dhabi now includes 3,000 dugongs, mostly in the waters of Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve and Al Yasat Marine Protected Area. Bu Tinah island in the Marawah area has the densest dugong population in the world.
Dugongs are grey-brown marine herbivores, with powerful fluked tails and small front flippers that act like paddles to stabilise them when they swim. They are air-breathing mammals that are totally adapted to life at sea, and spend much of their time grazing on seagrass. Their numbers were mainly threatened due to entrapment in fishing nets, habitat loss, marine pollution and boat collisions. The largest number of dugongs in the world is today found in Australia, followed by Abu Dhabi.
Dolphins are mainly threatened by entrapment in fishing nets, vessel strikes, habitat loss from dredging and land reclamation, noise pollution, and construction in marine areas.
Abu Dhabi is home to the largest population of these Indian Ocean humpback dolphins in the world, and the EAD has been monitoring them in order to ensure their protection, as well as that of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin species. They can typically be spotted in shallow waters and channels around the offshore islands, and the mainland of Abu Dhabi.
The green turtle is one of the largest sea turtle species in the world, and is the only herbivore among them all. It has become endangered because of development and illegal fishing. They are usually found near seagrass meadows, coral reefs and bays in subtropical and tropical seas throughout the world. The EAD monitors the turtle populations constantly, providing safe haven in marine protected areas.
The EAD has cooperated with the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to set up fish management and sustainability plans, including a ban on gargoor, a traditionally-used fishing cage, bans on fishing during spawning season, and a minimum size for catch. Protected species include the orange-spotted grouper or hamour (Epinephelus coioides), the white-spotted spinefoot or safi (Siganus canaliculatus), the spangled emperor or shaari (Lethrinus nebulous), kingfish (Scomberomorus commerson), and painted sweetlips or farsh (Diagramma pictum).
In addition, it has joined international partners to study and track numbers of sharks, which are dwindling across the world due to overfishing, habitat loss and marine pollution. Tracked species include the sicklefish lemon shark (Negaprion acutidens) the great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran), the spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari), the whale shark (Rhinocodon typus), the sawfish (Pristis pristis) and the halavi Guitarfish (Glaucostegus halavi).
Various species of coral have been found spanning 350 square kilometres in Abu Dhabi waters. These reefs support some of the most diverse marine ecosystems, playing an important role in providing habitats for important species of fish, and critically endangered marine wildlife such as the Hawksbill Turtle.
However, they have been in severe decline over the years due to anthropogenic activities like coastal development, dredging, wastewater discharge, sedimentation, pollution, anchor damage, landfill, and discarded or lost fishing gear. The EAD, in collaboration with New York University — Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), conducts an annual monitoring and assessment programme to understand the health status of coral communities.
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