Reefs of the UAE

Persian Gulf reef photo copyright pending

The Persian Gulf is home to around 540 species of fish, including 280 to 300 species associated with coral reefs (4).

Its fauna and flora are exceptional: mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs (Sheppard et al., 1992)(5). These interdependent ecosystems are concentrated on the coast, and survive in an arid climate, with 35 to 200 mm of average annual rainfall and temperature peaks of over 52°C (Tourenq and Launay)(6).

The corals of the UAE are very robust in the face of extreme conditions of temperature (11.5°C to 36°C) and salinity (37 to 50‰)(7). Corals have persisted in this region for around 15,000 years and the modern coastline has been home to coral reef structures for around 6,000 years (8).

Climate change and coastalcoastal development are themain causes of reef degradation in thereefs in the UAE.

Even species considered to beresistant to these factors are in decline. Some live within 1°C of their thermal tolerance limits for part of the year (Sheppard et al., 1992)(9). It is estimated that fish biomass decreased by around 80% in the Gulf region over the last 2 decades (Shallart et al., 2003, EAD-AGEDI 2006)(10).

Photo of fishermen, Ras Al-Khaimah UAE, 2018, © unsplash

Coral bleaching, 2016 ©Rainer von Brandis; istosk

The Global 200 WWF has classified the Persian Gulf as a priority marine ecoregion for conservation(11).

Since then, action has been taken to preserve it. In 2021, 28 species of reef-building coral out of the 66 species present in the UAE were classified on the MOCCAE red list of threatened species (12). Marine protected areas such as Jebel Ali have been created. But rising temperatures continue to damage the reefs. In 2019, a major bleaching event killed 73% of corals in the Abu Dhabi region (Burt et al., 2019)(13).