SAMUEL KUTTY l SEPTEMBER 22
Whether carbon capture for climate mitigation, renewable energy for our daily consumption and protection from storm surges, ocean and marine systems provide us with many essential services.
As the global population grows, we are probing deeper and further into the oceans — for fish, oil, gas, minerals and new genetic resources — in an attempt to keep pace with increasing consumption.
And this finally damages the oceans that sustain us!
UN Environment Programme in a reports points out, “Oceans face the threats of marine and nutrient pollution, resource depletion and climate change, all of which are caused primarily by human actions.”
These threats place further pressure on environmental systems, like biodiversity and natural infrastructure, while creating global socio-economic problems, including health, safety and financial risks.
In Oman, the marine environment, with its beautiful coastline extending over 3,165 km, is one of the most important economic, social and environmental factors of the Sultanate, with natural resources and aesthetic views overlooking three seas — Arabian Sea, Sea of Oman and Arabian Gulf.
The Sultanate is continuing its efforts to review and update environmental laws, legislations, and coastal zone management plans.
The government also makes continuous efforts for coordination with all sides, bodies, sectors and environmental associations related to the marine environment to cooperate in order to preserve the marine environment, its resources and its vital diversity.
As part of the government’s Sustainable Development Goals 2030, along with several other measures, an assessment of marine resources and the addition of new marine natural reserves are under way as well as the continued rehabilitation of the affected areas.
“The Sultanate realises the importance of environmental permits and their regulatory role,” stresses the draft of the 2030 Goals.
In order to achieve the objectives of protecting the marine environment and the conservation of marine biological resources, the Sultanate has given special importance to the implementation of studies, establishment of marine conservation zones, promulgation of legislations, implementation of coastal zone management plans, rehabilitation of degraded areas and the cultivation of mangroves in its various governorates.
In addition, campaigns are regularly organised to clean the environment and control turtles and marine mammals, as they are important for the sustainability and balance of the marine environment.
The Sultanate leaves no stones unturned in its efforts to prevent marine pollution in all forms. Coordination with the competent authorities in the Sultanate and the regional organisation is carried out through a comprehensive national plan to follow up the red tide phenomenon and limit its impact.
In the sustainable management and protection of marine and coastal ecosystems, the Sultanate has given attention to marine ecosystems — coral reefs and mangroves — through the implementation of the Coral Reef
Management Plan of the Sultanate.
Coral reefs are located in five major sites in the Sultanate. These sites receive special attention, which is reflected in the implementation of coral reef clean-up campaigns as a result of the increasing number of nets and fishing equipment in these environments and their adverse effects.
Consistent with biodiversity development approaches, coral reefs are facing threats to their growth, with the degradation of some areas. The use of coral reefs has been successful in finding alternative ecosystems for lost coral and complex food chains and the Sultanate of Oman has sought to spread many artificial structures in both Al Fahal Island, Damaniyat Island and Musandam Governorate.
The Sultanate also dropped a number of floating wharves in Bandar Al Khairan and Bandar Al Jissah, as well as the Damaniyat Islands Nature Reserve, with the aim of protecting coral reefs from the damage of boat anchors as they land on the seafloor.
Mangroves are one of the main components of the Omani marine environment. There is one species in the Sultanate — Avicenna Marina — which is able to adapt to the nature of the Omani environment, and is distributed in several coastal areas.
The total area covered by the Avicenna trees in the Sultanate is about 1,030 hectares, and in order to preserve those trees, the cultivation project of the Avicenna was launched in April 2000, through the establishment of 4 plant nurseries, and the cultivation of more than 600 thousand seedlings until the end of 2018.
Oman has 21 species of large whales and dolphins, of which 17 are small to large dolphins, 3 species of baleen whales and toothed whales (sperm whales).
Studies and research have shown, by satellite tracking, that the Omani humpback whale is a resident whale and remains in its habitats near the coast of Oman due to the seasonal climatic conditions that occur in the area south of Oman, where they provide various sources of food for whales throughout the year, instead of migrating to the South Pole in search of food, unlike other species of whales living in the South of the globe, making it a very rare species, as the numbers seen for this type did not exceed 100 whales.
There are also several species of marine turtles including the Loggerhead Turtle, the Hawksbill Turtle, the Green Turtle, the Olive Ridley Turtle and the Leatherback Turtle.
A national task force has been formed to study the causes of mortality and the trends of mammals and turtles, which is one of the indicators of the health of the marine environment and one of the essential elements of the marine ecosystem.