[Coral-List] response to David Medio re Qatari reefs

[sale at uwindsor.ca]

Response to Medio, 18th June:
I just want to correct any misunderstanding regarding your reference to "
the deployment of artificial reefs (see Nakheel's project aided by the UN 
University".

Nakheel is a for-profit component of the Dubai leadership that is engaged 
in construction of substantial coastal and offshore islands, rather than 
artificial reefs,  as high-value ocean-front real estate.  UNU-INWEH is 
not a partner in this overall process, but we are working with Nakheel to 
develop, implement, and train them in operating a long-term environmental 
monitoring and management program for the aquatic environments surrounding 
their island developments.  Our goal is to help ensure that their 
developments will be managed in an environmentally sustainable way.  In 
the course of our work, we have been tracking performance of corals on 
natural reefs in the vicinity, as well as on the rocky breakwaters that 
are a feature of the Nakheel projects.

We have no direct knowledge of the situation in Qatar, but I presume the 
physical environment is every bit as stressful for corals there as in 
Dubai (extreme temperatures, high salinities, frequent high turbidity 
during storms). 

Peter F. Sale
International Network on Water, Environment and Health
United Nations University