ABU DHABI // Thousands of farmed Hammour were released off the coast of Abu Dhabi yesterday in a first-of-its-kind effort to reverse the decline of the threatened fish species. About 25,000 juvenile Hammour, and the same number of another local species, Sobaity seabream, were released into waters on the northern coast of Saadiyat Island in a two-hour operation.
Hammour, also known as orange-spotted grouper, is a favourite dish in the UAE, and populations are on the brink of collapse. Experts say the species is fished seven times beyond sustainable levels. In April, the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wide Fund for Nature launched its Choose Wisely campaign to encourage diners to pick a less-threatened fish species from their menus. Eight of the UAE's most popular fish, including the hammour, were being eaten to extinction, the group warned.
Dr Thabit Zahran al Abdessalaam, the director of biodiversity management at the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), which oversaw the release, said: "The fish were about 45 days of age and weighing between 1.2 and 2 grammes." The effort was carried out in co-operation with the Tourism Development and Investment Company, which is developing Saadiyat Island, and the International Fish Farming Holding Company (Asmak), which provided the fish free of charge.
Mohammed al Muhairi, the company's vice chairman, said: ""Today will not have much effect. This is a trial to see how things are going." Both Dr al Abdessalaam and Mr al Muhairi hope to release larger stocks of fish. Dr al Abdessalaam said: "The whole idea about stock enhancement is to augment fish stocks in the wild by adding juveniles and try to improve the condition of stocks that have been overfished."
"We are not alone in this," he said, pointing out that other countries, such as Australia, China, Denmark and France, have established similar programmes. Critics of release programmes point out that artificially bred fish are likely to have weaker genetic resistance to disease and could pass on genetic defects to the total population. Mr al Muhairi said that the fish released yesterday were all parented by fish caught locally.
Hammour, while being an extremely popular commercial species, is exceptionally difficult to breed. "When they are very young, they eat each other," Mr al Muhairi said. "In addition, you have to have special feed for them and provide a covered area to simulate what they require in nature." While the company is the first in the Gulf to be produce hammour juveniles, it is still trying to breed them commercially, growing them to a stage where they are large enough to be suitable for consumption.
"We still did not reach this level," Mr al Muhairi said. "We are almost there, we would need some time." Meanwhile, care was taken yesterday to ensure the fish survived their lorry journey and transition to the sea. In a delicate operation, they were kept in oxygenated holding bowls of cool water at 21°C while waiting to be transferred to the sea where, even in the morning, the water was a much warmer 30°C.
As the containers were brought near the release point, seawater was slowly mixed in them, allowing the fish to acclimatise. The fish were then released into the warm waters of the Gulf. Dr al Abdessalaam said it is too early to say how successful the experiment will be. "There will be some mortality, that is for sure, but if I tell you now [how much] I will be speculating," he said. "In future, we will tag the fish and see what our success level is."
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