The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) honored the joint teams from the Ministry, Dubai Police and the Marine Environment Protection Association, who collaborated in carrying out a rescue operation to return to the sea a juvenile whale shark that lost its way in Dubai Creek earlier this month.
During the honoring ceremony organized by the ministry in its headquarters in Dubai, His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change & Environment, paid tribute to the role played by all the teams cooperating to save one of the most important marine creatures.
"Sharks are one of the most important and diverse marine creatures in the UAE environment. In line with its strategy and the UAE Vision 2021, MOCCAE strives to maintain marine sustainability and preserve the biodiversity of the local environment. The Ministry also aims to raise awareness on the importance of protecting sharks, in light of the spread of over-fishing, mainly due to the high value of their fins, meat, and gill plates, which affected many types of sharks threatened with extinction, especially in the East Asian countries,” His Excellency said.
Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi pointed out that earlier this year, MOCCAE launched the National Plan of Action (NPOA) for the Conservation and Management of Sharks 2018-2021, which presents concrete steps to conserve and sustain the 72-known species of sharks and mantas, that consider the UAE home.
The Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment, in cooperation with Dubai Police and the Marine Environment Protection Association, succeeded in rescuing a juvenile whale shark that lost its way in Dubai Creek, near Al Jaddaf area. On receiving a notification about the sighting of the 3-meter long fish in Dubai Creek, a team of expert divers and employees from MOCCAE’s Biodiversity Department reached the scene. They developed a rescue plan with minimal risks, factoring in the shark’s state of fear and anxiety. Divers tasked with the rescue split up into three groups onboard two boats. Five exhausting hours later, they managed to get the juvenile whale shark on to a stretcher that extended below the water between the two boats and extracted it from the Creek, before moving it slowly back into the Arabian Gulf.