UAE Dolphin Project News

[slideshow_deploy id=’1718′] We are extremely grateful to the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and especially to Mr. Nasser Juma Bin Sulaiman, Director of the Diving Village and Chairman of the Festival who invited us to participate to the first Dubai Marine & Heritage Festival.The event was held under the patronage of Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and Chairman of Dubai International Marine Club and took place at the Umm Suqeim beach from April 13 to 20, 2013.

The event aimed to celebrate and revive the Dubai marine cultural heritage, and it was dotted with activities representing the local traditions from making fishing nets out of palm material, to traditional music and dances, food and traditional dhow races. It was an extremely interesting to be as the only research project on the marine environment, and a great platform to reach a wide public from the local community to international tourists. Many children enjoyed discovering the dolphins species more common in Dubai waters by playing with our puzzles. Interestingly, the majority of people were surprised to see a research project on dolphins in Dubai and even more to learn that dolphins occur along Dubai coastline!

We hope this event will be the first of many and we hope to be back next year with more news for the public about dolphins in Dubai.

Last weekend the UAE Dolphin project was in the spotlight with its stand at the annual Paddle for the Planet event held on Kite Surf Beach in Dubai to mark World Environment Day.

The event sees hundreds of paddlers take to the water to show their solidarity in protecting the environment in a global relay started in New Zealand an involving countries all around the world.  In Dubai over seven hundred crafts, from surfskis, kayaks, stand up paddles, outriggers, surf boards children from the Pirates Surf Rescue Team, paddled out early in the morning. Well done everybody!

Following the event the UAE Dolphin Project stand was visited by many participants and was used as the back drop by the television for their interviews with the organisers of the event. Check our photo gallery on the project facebook page!

On March 28th, the Pavilion Dive Centre instructors were the first dive instructors to host the UAE Dolphin Project presentation that aims to inform divers about the local dolphin population. We received extremely positive feedback from all the attendees and we hope to extent the presentation to other members of the Pavilion Dive Centre in the future. A special thanks goes to Elena and Laurent for supporting the organisation of this event.

The one hour talk provided general knowledge about whales and dolphins, the adaptation challenges that this group of mammals have overcome to spend their life in an aquatic environment, their classification and the role they play in the marine environment. Furthermore the dive instructors received information about dolphins species in UAE waters: what is known and what is unknown about the local populations, which species are most likely to be encountered, how to identify the species and to be “dolphin SMART”  in case of sightings to minimise stress to the animals and risk to the observers. Most importantly it was illustrated how dive instructors can play an important role in supporting research by actively reporting sightings and teaching other divers what they now know about dolphins.

If you are a diver or a dive instructor and you are interested to know more about the local dolphins and how you and your club can actively support the local research, please contact us at: sighting@uaedolphinproject.org.