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The intensive construction of The Palm, Jumeirah
has driven much of the marine life away from the site of
the world’s largest man-made island, but efforts are now
being made to bring sea life back through the creation
of artificial reefs.
When
Dubai announced plans to build two gigantic islands in
the shape of palm trees off its Jumeirah coastline,
environmentalists naturally raised concerns about the
impact such a massive development would have on the
marine environment and the delicate ecosystems which
exist under the surface of the Arabian Gulf.
With the
superstructure of the first of the two islands – The
Palm, Jumeirah – now complete, developers Nakheel
have begun the process of re-introducing life to the
crystal blue waters surrounding what has been billed as
‘the eighth wonder of the world.’ The man-made island is
surrounded by a crescent-shaped breakwater and, beyond
that, artificial reefs are being installed to attract
fish, lobsters and other marine life to create a
thriving habitat where man and nature can co-exist.
The sinking of a
Boeing 737, a Russian fighter aircraft, a London bus and
several ships has already begun to attract sea life back
to The Palm, but a trial is set to begin of a new
type of artificial reef system that is designed to
‘cultivate’ the seabed and further enhance the marine
environment.
Called the
Runde Reef, it comprises a 2.5 metre high concrete core
from which dozens of recycled polyethylene tubes sprout
to create a large surface growing area of 250 square
metres, as well as 340 metres of cavity inside the
tubes. Once seaweed and other organisms begin to inhabit
the structure, it is hoped fish and other sea life will
be attracted by the protection it offers from larger
predators and a whole new marine habitat will begin to
develop.
It has been developed by the
Norwegian company Reef Systems and, following a
successful trial in the Scandinavian country’s Nord
Fjord, is being introduced to The Palm, Jumeirah
by Kyodo International in conjunction with the Zayed
International Prize for the Environment and support from
the Emirates Diving Association.
“It is a trial project to start
with,” explains Kyodo International’s Vice President of
Shipping, Dag Erik Nordlie. “At the end of November, we
will install three of these artificial reefs outside the
crescent of The Palm, Jumeirah and will monitor
their progress until May 2005 when a seminar will be
held to present the research data we have collected.”
Kyodo International has hired a
marine biologist from Sweden to monitor the progress of
the reefs alongside scientists from the UAE University
in Al Ain, and optimism remains high for the success of
the project in Dubai.
“The tests carried out in Norway
involved installing these reefs in areas where there had
been massive deterioration of the marine environment and
after two years the difference was remarkable – you had
micro-organisms coming back, you had fish, crabs,
lobsters and the vegetation that is important for
cleaning the sea – but Norway is a totally different
environment from the Middle East,” Mr Nordlie says.
“The sea here is very warm and salty,
and becoming more salty because the slush from the
desalination plants is returned to the sea. It also
takes about seven years to change the water in the
Arabian Gulf as there are very few rivers coming in and
it has a narrow entrance at the Straits of Hormouz,
whereas the Baltic Sea in Scandinavia takes only three
years.
“But I expect to see growth starting
to form on the reefs within three weeks – there was a
lot of growth on the Russian plane sunk outside The
Palm within a month – and by May I would like to see
something resembling three underwater palms trees with a
lot of greenery and fish and shellfish around it,
although I am not sure if it will actually be like that
after six months as it took about two years for the
reefs in Norway to reach that stage. But the scientists
monitoring the progress there were very surprised and
said the results were far better than they had
expected.”
The damage that man can do to the
marine environment is something which Mr Nordlie has
experienced for himself in his native Norway, which
makes him even more eager to ensure the same thing does
not occur in Dubai. He grew up in Oslo in the early
1950s at a time when the redevelopment of the city saw
the construction of new suburbs and the introduction of
flushing water toilets, but sadly the authorities
decided to empty the new sewage pipes directly into the
fjords.
“Where I lived there were beautiful
beaches, but within a few years you couldn’t go swimming
there anymore. It took about 20 years to get the water
quality back, so I have seen this firsthand and know how
important it is to think this way and make sure
something like that doesn’t happen here, which could
easily happen if the marine life isn’t taken care of.”
With luxury resort hotels and villas
being built on The Palm, Jumeirah, the need to
reintroduce marine life to the surrounding seas not only
brings environmental benefits, but also the opportunity
to create more interesting surroundings for the
thousands of visitors and residents expected to stay on
the island.
“We believe that when you are
promoting one of the most luxurious developments in the
world and building million dollar houses, these people
don’t want to have a sea outside which is sterile,” Mr
Nordlie says. “They want clear seas inhabited by fish so
they can go snorkelling and diving, but you wont get
fresh sea unless you also have something living there -
where there are fish, the sea is healthy.”
Artificial reefs are not a new
phenomenon – the first was no doubt created by the first
ever shipwreck – but the Runde Reef, which takes its
name from Runde Island on the west coast of Norway,
offers a different approach to creating marine
environments.
“There were other companies involved
in making proposals to Nakheel, but everyone else seemed
to focus on coral reefs,” Mr Nordlie says. “Coral reefs
are beautiful and important for the sea, but there are
other things that are also important. The philosophy of
our project is not specifically to go for coral but to
actually enhance the environment in a broader way.
“The idea is to cultivate the sea to
see how we can improve the number of species of fish and
other living things - just as you can cultivate the
land, you can cultivate the seabed. It has been done for
generations in other areas like Japan and China. From a
commercial point of view, there will be more fish to
catch and more lobsters, you will have nice places to
dive which benefits tourism and, on top of that, you
also have the environmental benefits.”
The main advantage of the Runde Reef
system is its ability to produce a large growing area in
a relatively small space – an area covering five square
metres produces a growing area of 250 square metres -
and the reef can easily be moved and transported to a
new location.
“If you created an artificial reef
from old car tyres, it would take hundreds to create a
growing area of 250 square metres and it would be
difficult to remove them afterwards. With these units
you can just hook them on a crane and move them, so you
could take one unit which has been in the sea for a year
or so and move it to another place and then put another
five or 10 bare ones around it so the habitat expands.
You can also move a certain species from one area to
another.”
According to Mr Nordlie, the system
is also more environmentally-friendly than another type
of artificial reef being used in the Gulf – the ‘reef
ball’ - which is essentially a concrete sphere
containing a number of holes.
“Things grow on it and so on, but it
uses a lot of concrete to create a small growing area,”
he explains. “Our system requires a fifth of the amount
of concrete to create the same growing area and you
would need to use a number of reef balls to achieve the
same result, so that is where we feel we have the
advantage.”
Kyodo International is primarily a
trading company specialising in the maritime industry,
and the opportunity to become involved in marine
conservation is viewed by Mr Nordlie as a means of
‘giving something back’ to the sea.
“Most of our major clients are big
shipping companies and we all make our livings from the
sea, so when I heard about this project I thought ‘why
not’. My philosophy is that this is a contribution from
our side to the marine environment.”
So long as the trial at The Palm,
Jumeirah proves successful, it could also prove to
be a viable commercial enterprise for the company which
hopes to create ‘oases’ of artificial reefs throughout
the Gulf, with interest in the project having already
been shown from Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“They are aware we have started this
trial project here and will be kept updated so they can
decide if they wish to implement similar initiatives
themselves,” Mr Nordlie says. “I would like to see it
develop on a larger scale whereby all the production of
the reefs will be done here in Dubai and local
universities and other institutions will be able to take
part in the studies so that it gives a lot back.
"I call it a 'win-win situation' and hope to be able to
make it a commercially viable venture from our side - it
is not possible to calculate the return of investment on
a dollar for dollar basis, but the next generation and
the marine ecosystem will reap the benefit and that's
the real turn on the investment."
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