Twice a week in the last couple of months, a team of marine scientists, researchers and volunteers have been going out in the sea to conduct a survey of dolphin population off the coast of Dubai.
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/1.78472066
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#Dubai #DolphinDay #dolphins
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00:00Twice a week, in the last couple of months, a team of marine scientists, researchers and
00:08volunteers go out in the sea to conduct a survey dolphin population off the coast of
00:14Dubai.
00:15Led by Dr. Ada Natoli, assistant professor at the College of Natural and Health Sciences
00:20at Zayed University and founder and director of the UAE Dolphin Project Initiative.
00:25They spend three to four hours out on sea during each trip.
00:28Their mission is to gather scientific data and produce baseline information of marine
00:33resources.
00:34This data will be used to assess the number of species, population, structure and if possible
00:40predict population trend of local dolphins.
00:43We are conducting a dolphin survey in Dubai water with the target to assess the occurrence,
00:52the frequency and the residency of the population here.
00:58The survey covers about 1000 square meters of Dubai coastal waters.
01:04We generally go out about 20 kilometers from Port Rashid up to all the way to Jebel Ali
01:11Sanctuary.
01:12We are focusing on all marine mega fauna, not necessarily only dolphins.
01:19Obviously dolphins are our iconic species, so the species that we are focusing specifically.
01:26During the survey we also collect data about turtles, sea snakes if we see them and different
01:35type of bird species, especially cormorants that we know they are in danger in this area.
01:41So if we do not protect each population, we basically miss a lot in terms of biodiversity
01:50within the species that is crucial for the species survival.
01:53We are so excited to be starting this Dubai Dolphin Survey, which we started at the beginning
01:58of February actually this year and it is a year long survey that looks at assessing the
02:03dolphin populations obviously off the coast of Dubai from Port Rashid all the way down
02:07to Jebel Ali Wildlife Sanctuary.
02:10Now obviously this is of critical importance, understanding the distribution and the habitat
02:15preference of marine mammals and dolphins in particular will allow us to better implement
02:22conservation action and inform governments on how they can do that, giving the scientific
02:28basis and the scientific research.