We’re trashing the environment: how two Emirati sisters are trying to preserve marine ecosystems

The Emirati sisters Maitha and Shamsa Al Hameli talk about their volunteer organisation the Abu Dhabi Marine Conservation Group.

A hawksbill turtle, one of the UAE’s marine species that Maitha and Shamsa Al Hameli are aiming to protect. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Marine Conservation Group

'Today, conservation of the environment is not meant only for the Government or for the officials. It is something that concerns us all. Individuals, voluntary groups of our citizens and others – all can and must get involved." It was these words spoken by Sheikh Zayed, the founding President of the UAE, that inspired the Emirati siblings Maitha and Shamsa Al Hameli to form the Abu Dhabi Marine Conservation Group, which is aimed at raising community awareness.

“I wish this quote would reach the locals,” says Maitha, 29, who along with her younger sister is concerned about the future of the UAE’s marine environment after noticing dramatic changes in recent years. “We’d always go out to the beach as kids. We’d go out on boat trips, and we’d see all kinds of dolphins, fish, birds, and then suddenly it struck us that in the past 10 years we stopped seeing what we used to see. There was not as much dolphin interaction as we used to get as kids; the water is not the water we used to swim in as kids.”

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• Click here to see a video of what an underwater camera captured in the Arabian Gulf

• Click here to see a photo gallery of Abu Dhabi's underwater world

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The sisters were born and raised in Abu Dhabi, and like many Emirati children, spent much of their childhood at the beach or in a boat out at sea. It was during these early years that their parents instilled in them the importance of caring for the environment.

“Our parents used to tell us to clean up after ourselves. It was like a big thing if someone dropped some rubbish,” says Shamsa, 24, who’s in her final year of a degree in environmental and ecological biology at United Arab Emirates University. “Our parents made us think differently, if there was a sick turtle or a sick bird or whatever, our family would take it in.”

The Al Hamelis say that the dramatic changes in the marine environment are even more difficult for their parents’ generation to process.

“The change we have witnessed is nothing compared to the change our parents have ­witnessed,” Maitha says.

Shamsa recalls the family’s fishing trips when the sisters were children. At that time, she says they usually caught what they needed in five minutes. Now, she says they have to sit for hours to catch one fish.

“It’s heartbreaking to think about what the next generation will be left with, or if the next generation will have anything left,” says Maitha, who’s studying a master’s in environmental sciences.

It’s the obvious change in fish numbers, and the reduced number of sightings of the country’s turtles, dugongs, dolphins, sharks, rays and hammour, that prompted the sisters to take action and attempt to change ­attitudes.

With help from family and friends, the pair formed Abu ­Dhabi Marine Conservation Group with the aim to “raise awareness, engage the community and promote positive action towards Abu Dhabi’s marine life”. While ADMCG doesn’t actively recruit members, it has attracted thousands of followers on social media.

“On instagram, we have a lot of followers that help us a lot in different ways,” Shamsa says. “Sometimes they see what we are doing – taking care of turtles or helping with fish or whatever – and they start to do the same, such as cleaning and rescuing turtles from nets. And they report things to us, such as sightings of killer whales.”

The sisters are so passionate about the cause that they spend most of their spare time trying to spread the conservation message, organising beach clean-ups or conducting research projects that can provide important scientific details about the local environment. Their priority is educating the region’s fishermen and young people.

“One of our most important aims is to change the way local fishermen think about the environment, because they do believe there are [plenty of] fish in the sea and that there is an unlimited stock – they are in denial,” Shamsa says. “Another aim is to talk to the younger generation, change their views. If we can speak to the younger generation, maybe they will grow into caring about the environment more.”

The pair are very hands-on: they are qualified rescue divers, which means they can help to remove “ghost” nets (fishing nets that have been left or lost in the ocean by fishermen), as well as rescuing injured turtles and organising local clean-ups (mainly in the Western Region). They’ve also recently acquired a baited remote underwater video system – an ­underwater camera that they ­deploy in UAE waters to record the local fish species.

“We are hoping to find some species that are not recorded,” says Maitha, who works at the ­Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as a marine threatened species and habitats specialist. “We randomly choose a location, and before deploying [the camera], we check the topography, places that might be interesting.”

While the camera is recording, group members go snorkelling, then eagerly watch the recordings afterwards.

“After two or three hours, we all sit around, still in our shorts, the salt in our hair and we just play, fast forward ... and suddenly something big happens, such as a fish photobombing the ­camera.”

Another programme that the sisters are passionate about is iSeahorse – a reporting programme driven by an international society of scientists and biologists who are noting the different species and locations of seahorse sighted around the world.

“I found out there are some different species suspected to live here, so we went on a trip looking and we found some,” Shamsa says. After recording the sighting on the programme’s website (www.iseahorse.org), they found out it was the first reported in the Arabian Gulf. After this, the programme’s organisers asked if the sisters would like to take their interest a step further.

“We did a free online course about surveying the seahorse, and now we’re going to start a monthly survey. The man who contacted us is looking forward to the results,” Shamsa says.

While they’re humble about their efforts, they haven’t gone unnoticed. “Sheikha Mariam bint Khalifa bin Saif Al ­Nahyan has been supporting us. She heard our story and was instantly on-board. She loved the things we did and wanted to learn more,” says Shamsa. “She arranged a small private event where we had a screen for our photos, it was a nice event.”

The sisters want to hold more of these events. “When we show photos, people usually ask: ‘Is that here? They must have been taken in the Maldives?’ When we tell them, they start to ask questions and want to know more,” Shamsa says. “Hopefully we will have another public event soon.”

The UAE has the world’s second-largest population of dugongs. It also boasts turtles (both green and hawksbill varieties), dolphins, sharks and more than 500 species of fish. If the Al Hameli sisters have their way, the message will be spread to protect these marine environments.

“We can’t ask people to save something they don’t know, they didn’t see [or] they didn’t experience,” Maitha says.

If you're interested in helping the Abu Dhabi Marine Conservation Group, follow them on Instagram (@admcgroup) or email [e-mail].

Don’t miss our Marine Animals of the UAE poster series, starting in next Friday’s Weekend.

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