A critically-endangered fish caused a stir when it was spotted in Abu Dhabi waters on Sunday.
The bowmouth guitarfish, a rare species of ray, was seen on Reem Island.
Residents flocked to the beach to see the fish, which is usually found lurking on the sea floor.
Marine experts at Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) caught the fish and carried out tests, before releasing it back into the water.
"We tried [using] the net initially and he swam straight out," said Winston Cowie, marine policy manager at the agency.
"So I just grabbed him and held him while Shamsa Al Hameli, our sharks and ray specialist, took DNA samples. The whole process took less than three minutes."
The fish has a wide body, a W-shaped mouth with rounded snout and large shark-like dorsal and tail fins. It has thorny ridges over its head and back.
The species can grow up to 2.7 metres in length, and can weigh as much as 135kg. It is also known by the names shark ray or mud skate.
It is considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.
On social media, residents of Reem Island shared photos and videos of the fish – which is almost 1.7m long – swimming close to the shore .
Omar Ibrahim, 13, from Egypt, who lives in a tower on the island, took a video.
"My friend Hussein and his dad were outside and saw it, so they called me. He lives four floors under me," he said.
"I instantly found it because there was a huge group of people and kayaks all around it.
"It didn't seem scared. It was actually really curious and close to the shore. It was a really nice experience."
Ms Al Hameli of EAD said the male fish was swimming close to the mangroves in an area with a ready supply of crustaceans, which he feeds on.
"We will continue to monitor him, to assess his behaviour over the coming days," she said.
Ms Al Hameli urged the public to keep a distance from the fish and avoid swimming next to it.
It has been a busy two months for EAD, which has been monitoring the presence of two whale sharks in Abu Dhabi.
On Thursday, authorities suspended marine traffic in waters near Aldar headquarters, in nearby Al Raha and Al Bahia further up the coast in a bid to protect the big fish.
The two whale sharks were originally spotted together in the Al Raha area seven weeks ago.
One has since moved on from Al Raha, but a smaller, juvenile shark remains in the area. EAD began supplementing its diet with krill supplied by the National Aquarium Abu Dhabi after noticing it had lost weight.
The larger adult whale shark is now swimming a few miles up the coast in Al Bahia.
Officials believe the pair followed a plankton bloom before becoming disorientated in channels in the area, leaving them unable to find their way out to open water.
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Leeson gambled more than $1 billion in speculative trades,
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
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