Data collected on the UAE’s first dolphin map has been released, showing several hundred sightings of the popular mammals in the country’s coastal waters.
For the past three years, members of the public shared details of where and when they spotted dolphins, with 419 sightings recorded, mainly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
These provided the UAE Dolphin Project important data about the country’s dolphin populations, of which little was known.
Dr. Ada Natoli, a dolphin expert who coordinated the implementation of the map in 2013, hopes the data collected will raise public awareness of the presence of dolphins in local waters and lead to new conservation laws.
The map data was logged onto a database by a group of volunteers.
While details of dolphin ¬sightings in neighbouring countries such as Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were also logged on the UAE map, most were of sightings made in Dubai and Abu ¬Dhabi waters.
Most of the dolphins seen ¬belonged to three species – the Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin and the finless porpoise.
The information collected from the dolphin map has been a vital help in a project Dr. Natoli started in 2014 to study the UAE’s dolphin populations.
She has been conducting a boat-based survey in Dubai that will eventually help her to gauge population numbers.
About 41 per cent of the reports filed by members of the ¬public were paired with pictures or ¬video, which allowed Dr. Natoli to recognise individual dolphins she has previously seen in Dubai.
Repeat sightings can provide information about the animals’ movement and bring more -understanding about the type of habitats that dolphins in UAE waters prefer, she said. (The National)
To get involved with the project and report a dolphin sighting, email ¬information about the date, time and location of the encounter to
sighting@uaedolphinproject.org.
PHOTO: An interactive map allows people to log details of where and when they see dolphins in coastal water. The information allows the UAE Dolphin Project to investigate the dolphin population along the coastline.
CREDIT: Courtesy The Dolphin Project.