Sharjah leads the way in marine conservation

SHARJAH: Sharjah Aquarium, as an atractive tourist destination for visitors, contributes to raising awareness about marine pollution, and promoting the concepts of preserving and sustaining the marine environment, through introductory, educational and recreational tours for various members of society and tourists, in addition to launching several specialised programmes, including the marine reserve established in 2009, a rehabilitation and release program for a number of endangered turtle species and fish.

Protecting the marine environment tops the priorities of the Sharjah, as it periodically organizes a series of direct and virtual activities, events and workshops, part of which was implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, to spread environmental awareness and consolidate the concept of social responsibility among all members of society, as it contributed to informing more than 50,000 visitors during the first half of this year, they visited the beauty and richness of marine life on the coast of Sharjah.

In response to its priorities in preserving the marine environment, the Sharjah Museums Authority launched in 2009 the first version of its CSR initiative “Because We Care” with the aim of raising community awareness and promoting a culture of preserving water bodies, through which the Sharjah Aquarium won the Golden Shield Award from the Arab Organization “Social Responsibility” for a two-year campaign to clean up the marine environment.

The campaign, which closed its tenth edition in 2019, sought to build a model environment for marine organisms, with the aim of increasing their reproduction and sustainability opportunities as a vital environmental resource, bypassing the borders of beaches to reach the depths of ports, lakes, creeks and fisheries.

Tonnes of waste were extracted from the seas, which were displayed to the public in the Khan Sea, Khalid Lake, Mamzar Lakes, Sharjah, Al Alam Island, the fishermen’s port in Kalba, and the Jubail market marina, in order to shed light on its grave dangers to the environment in general and to marine resources and their beneficiaries in particular.

During its successive sessions, the campaign focused on introducing the target groups to individual behaviors that threaten the marine environment, such as throwing plastic waste, the flow of organic waste into the seas and the practice of industrial activities near the coasts, in addition to the dangers of urban sprawl towards the coasts, which leads to the destruction of coral reefs and the marine environment, and other practices.