To avoid causing
offence, you must
not refer to the
body of water
off the coast of
Dubai as the ‘per-
sian Gulf’. This is
an exceptionally
sensitive issue in
arab Gulf coun-
tries, where the
water is definitely,
emphatically
and categori-
cally called the
‘arabian Gulf’,
even if the rest
of the world,
including the un,
disagrees.THE
GULF
spend winter here. Species native to Arabia include the crab plover,
the Socotra cormorant, the black-crowned finch lark and the purple
sunbird.Sea Life
The waters off Dubai teem with around 300 different species of fish.
Diners will be most familiar with the hammour, a species of grouper,
but the Gulf is also home to an extraordinary range of tropical fish and
several species of small sharks. Green turtles and hawksbill turtles used
to nest in numbers on Dubai’s beaches and today there is a vigorous
program to reintroduce them. Check http://www.dubaiturtles.com for more
information.progrESS & SuStainaBility
There’s no shortage of sand in Dubai, so converting it into islands that
cost several million dollars each looked like a very profitable venture.
Today we know that this venture was largely a pipe dream. Worse still,
as environmentalists have long argued, Dubai’s offshore projects such
as Palm Island and the (now defunct) The World have already caused
considerable long-term damage. The initial dredging for The World re-
sulted in around 33 million cubic metres of sand and shell from the
seabed of the Gulf being redistributed. Critics claim that this work has
damaged the marine environment, with dredging destroying the sea-
bed and plumes of sediment from the construction wrecking fragile
coral reefs.
Across the UAE, resources are consumed at a much faster rate than
they can be replaced, which is why their ecological footprint is so high.
It won’t be easy to reverse the trend and achieve environmental sustain-
ability because the UAE relies so heavily on imported goods. Nearly
everything on the supermarket shelves is brought into the country,
and most of what you’ll eat in restaurants has been transported from
overseas too. There are a few farms in the UAE (including a couple
of organic pioneers), but in a country where the economy – and theaTTacK of The Killer TideThe waters off the uAE East Coast used to be a snorkeller’s and diver’s paradise,
teeming with turtles, barracuda, small sharks and tropical fish� Then disaster struck
in 2008: the red tide came and stayed for nearly eight months�
Red tide – or, as scientists prefer to call it, ‘harmful algal bloom’ – is a naturally
occurring, cyclical phenomenon caused by a build-up of microscopic algae called
Karenia brevis� Colouring the water blood-red to cola-brown, it deprives it of oxygen
and blocks sunlight, killing fish and coral� The tide usually disappears after a few
weeks, but under the right (or rather, wrong) conditions, the organisms continue to
multiply� Though it’s not toxic to humans, allergic types may come away with stinging
and blotched skin if exposed to the water�
During the eight months that the red tide lingered along the uAE coast, it damaged
or destroyed 95% of the colourful coral and left hundreds of tons of fish floating belly
up, according to Dubai-based emirates diving association (eDa; %04-393 9390;
http://www.emiratesdiving.com), the uAE’s official diving agency�
Scientists are still baffled as to the exact causes of the prolonged tide, but likely
culprits include discharge of raw or partially treated sewage, aquaculture farming,
spillage from passing freighters and dredging from the construction of nearby artifi-
cial islands� Recovery is slow, but corals are reportedly replenishing themselves and
marine life is returning as well�The
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