Khaled Al Khawaldeh(Abu Dhabi)

In his travels around the world, property magnate, Fouad Mashal, is said to have taken inspiration from aquariums around the world for what would be the centrepiece of his billion-dirham Al Qanaa development. With over 33,000 species, and world-class facilities, it’s easy to see the high aspirations it was created with, but beyond its entertainment value, the National Aquarium has positioned itself as a hub of conservation, serving both as a rescue centre and educational outpost for threatened marine life.

When Aletihad visited the aquarium on Thursday, the team was celebrating the release of its latest batch of sea turtles back into the wild. As part of a programme in partnership with the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi, the centre has seen its upper floor and some of the exhibits downstairs turned into a full-fledged rescue and rehabilitation centre.

Anne Valentina Bourbon, who manages the aquarium’s educational programme, and helped design the exhibit, said conservation has always been central to the institution’s vision, with every aspect of the exhibit carefully curated to educate the public on the precious marine life both locally and abroad as well as the various challenges that they face. 

“We get kids that come to see, feed and clean the turtles and come back and say,’I’m going to be a marine biologist’, which is great but even for the others, I always tell them, ‘you don’t need to become a marine biologist to help the environment’,” Anne told Aletihad.

“We need doctors and lawyers and policemen that are aware of the environment and who will be willing to put themselves to service the wider society through their profession. For example, if you are a policeman who works in border patrol and learn about the illegal pet trade, then you will know how to stop this and how to enforce the law. If you are a lawyer who dedicates your life to creating and enforcing laws to protect the environment, you are helping the environment, you don’t need to be a scientist to do that.” 

Taking us through the aquarium, Anne described how every exhibit serves not only as a lens into the wonders of the oceans, but as a reminder of how dependent we are on an ecosystem most of us encounter very little. The subtlety of the message is not lost even on the walls, which are decorated in Phytoplankton, microscopic organisms which produce almost 70% of the world’s oxygen and form the foundations of much of the ocean’s food chains.

“I hope that visitors leave with a sense of pride of what the country is doing to save animals. I hope that they leave at least falling in love with one of the animals and with a sense of responsibility and a push and a boost of wanting to do something for preserving nature,” she said.

The World’s Laboratory

A point of emphasis for the aquarium’s conservation efforts is its location on the coast of the Arabian Gulf, which due to its high salinity and temperatures has become a highly researched marine ecosystem worldwide.

“Here in the Arabian Gulf, the corals have adapted to a harsh environment and thrive. They are very resilient, and scientists are working on trying to understand what the genetic making of these corals is that makes them so resilient and how they could be transferred to other currents across the planet to help them survive extreme temperatures brought on by climate change,” Anne said.

The centre currently has a coral breeding programme, that allows it to replenish its own stocks of coral, as well as help with future “coral fragging” operations, which involve replenishing natural habitats using small cutouts from healthy corals. 
“We have very ambitious dreams in the UAE to create a huge reservoir or coral bank in case anything disastrous like increased temperatures in the ocean,” she said.

From Turtles, Sharks to Manatees

In the first exhibit, visitors are met with turtles swimming freely in an open air pond, while the turtles look right home, all of them are mere temporary visitors to the aquarium, on a journey of recovery before being sent back to the wild.

As part of the rehabilitation operation, rescued turtles with buoyancy issues, shock and heavy build-up of barnacles are washed, cured and rehabilitated by a team of vets upstairs, before moving downstairs into the exhibit and then eventually back into the wild.

“Many of the turtles come to us from the illegal pet trade, a lot of people buy them unlicensed and then just leave them... so that’s why we also put a lot of emphasis on educating people about the dangers of this trade,” Anne said.

The centre also has two rare African manatees, which form one of its biggest attractions and has since become part of a transitional conservation programme with the African Manatee project.

Moving forward, the centre is also breeding local tiger sharks, with the first batch of 20 being released back into the wild with plans to expand the programme in coming years.