Steering panel on harmful marine algae research reviews

MUSCAT: A virtual meeting was held yesterday to create an integrated system for effective monitoring, prediction, management and control of red tides to reduce economic losses and to protect human health.

This was the second meeting of the steering committee for the strategic research programme on harmful marine algae.

The virtual meeting was chaired by Eng. Yaqoub bin Khalfan Al Busaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources for Fisheries.

The meeting was held in the presence of the committee’s members from various relevant institutions, namely the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, the Ministry of Health, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Environment Authority, the Public Authority for Water and the national Civil Aviation Authority.

It reviewed the items executed from the decisions of the previous meeting. The committee approved recommendations of the technical committee related to the proposals, and approved the evaluation results that meet the funding requirements and evaluation criteria approved by the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation,

The committee also reviewed the proposals and the detailed plan for the programme, which aim to develop action plan, its implementation mechanism, the timeframe, and define the responsibilities and tasks of the members.

The committee also reviewed the final vision of the programme’s introductory workshop and the media plan that aims to familiarise the community about the phenomenon of harmful marine algae blooms.