FUJAIRAH: Off the east coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) coral freshly removed from a reef is cut into pieces and replanted by a group of divers in the waters below.
The divers, from the Fujairah Adventure Center, are building artificial reefs they hope will spur a resurgence in sea life degraded over the years by climate change and development.
The small team and other volunteers have planted more than 9,000 corals over about 600 square meters in the past year. Within five years, they hope to cover 300,000 square meters with 1.5 million corals.
“It’s a fertile environment for coral reefs, and this diversity has started spreading and has helped bring back sea life,” diver Saeed Al-Maamari told Reuters.
Reefs, developing over thousands of years, are crucial to the survival of many marine species, while also acting as a barrier against waves that can help reduce erosion.
As elsewhere, UAE reefs have suffered substantial degradation over the past two decades, mostly due to climate change but also because of land reclamation.
Artificial reefs can help restore reefs that become a habitat for marine life and help combat coral bleaching and other degradation caused by climate change.
But it could take 10-15 years until meaningful levels of coral begin to grow naturally on artificial reefs, marine biologist John Burt told Reuters.
“This is a program that is going to take a considerable amount of time before it is able to demonstrate efficacy in terms of rehabilitating a coral reef,” said the associate professor at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus.
The project in Fujairah, one of the poorer parts of the oil-rich Gulf Arab state, has government support with technical expertise provided by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
Fujairah is where most of the country’s few popular diving spots are located and officials hope the reef will help foster sustainable fisheries and eco-tourism.
“We’re recreating the coral reef environment and system, which will become colonized with fish and increase biodiversity and become a habitat for fish species that are threatened and become a nice environment for diving tourism,” said Ahmed Al-Za’abi, director of the ministry’s marine environment research department.
Divers cut, plant coral off UAE coast to build reef
https://arab.news/y92ku
Divers cut, plant coral off UAE coast to build reef
- Divers are building artificial reefs they hope will spur a resurgence in sea life degraded over the years
- UAE reefs have suffered substantial degradation over the past two decades
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LONDON: The number of Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers has surpassed 9,350 as of early January 2026, according to reports from Palestinian prisoners’ organizations.
According to the institutions, based on data released by the Israeli Prison Service, the detainees include 53 women and girls, two of whom are minors, and around 350 children held in Megiddo and Ofer prisons.
The total number of administrative detainees is 3,385, while those classified by Israel as “unlawful combatants” amount to 1,237. This figure does not account for all detainees from Gaza held in Israeli military camps under this classification, which also includes a few Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria.
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Administrative detainees account for over 36 percent of all Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The classifications of administrative detention and “unlawful combatants” permit the indefinite detention of individuals without charge in military detention centers.
