Public urged to report dolphin sightings for new Dubai study
A team of scientists is surveying off the coast of Dubai to gather data about the emirate’s dolphins.
The year-long project will assess different species, as well as population structures and trends.
Led by Dr Ada Natoli, assistant professor at the College of Natural and Health Science at Zayed University, researchers will span 1,000 square kilometres of Dubai’s coastal waters.
So far, the Dubai Dolphin Survey 2021-22 has recorded several species swimming below the waters’ surface.
These include four sightings of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins and two sightings of the rare and elusive finless porpoise.
The team is also calling on the public to help collect vital data.
“To complement the boat survey, we are also rebooting the Report a Sighting citizen science campaign, to encourage the public and people who operate vessels to report sightings of whales and dolphins,” said Dr Natoli, who is also the founder and director of UAE Dolphin Project.
“We will host a series of public virtual awareness sessions to ensure people are collecting the right information and reporting it, which will most certainly increase our understanding of these animals in our waters.”
Sightings of whales and dolphins can be reported on the UAE Dolphin Project website (uaedolphinproject.org), on Instagram or Facebook. People can also send sightings by WhatsApp or by email to sighting@uaedolphinproject. org.
This latest project, supported by Atlantis The Palm and F3 Marine, is the first such survey conducted in the area in eight years.
The last survey recorded numerous sightings of dolphins, which are listed as “threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
For the 2013/2014 mission, scientists spotted regular pods of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin and one porpoise – the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise.
Using photos of dolphins’ dorsal fins, the team completed a photo-identification catalogue of individual dolphins.
For the latest project, the team will try to identify individuals from the previous survey and gather a more precise idea of the residency and population size of dolphins along Dubai’s coast.
Prof Fares Howari, dean of the College of Natural and Health Sciences at Zayed University, said whales and dolphins played a crucial role in the marine ecosystem.
“Being at the top of the marine food chain, together with other species such as sharks and top marine predators, they are ecological indicators of the status of the sea,” he said.
“The current project will boost marine science and marine biology research lines at ZU.
“The project will provide accurate information on dolphin population and their distribution in the Gulf.”
Dolphins are often sighted in UAE waters. With several animal conservation agencies working to protect marine mammals in the country, organisations regularly post videos of dolphin pods spotted off the coasts of Fujairah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
In June last year, a pod of humpback dolphins was spotted in shallow water off Saadiyat Island.
The group was seen swimming close to shore in a video shared on Environment Agency Abu Dhabi’s Twitter feed.