A fish lies on the beach along Dubai Creek between Business Bay and Al Garhoud Bridges giving off a foul smell.
A fish lies on the beach along Dubai Creek between Business Bay and Al Garhoud Bridges giving off a foul smell.

Tonnes of dead fish wash up in Creek



The stench from Dubai Creek was unmistakable, and its cause familiar and instantly apparent: tonnes of dead fish, floating in the water and washing up on the shores. And yet, the reason for the mass deaths remains officially obscure, the subject of a delayed report. By itself, the event is not unusual - it often happens around this time of year, the result of depleted oxygen levels in the water, sapped by algae that build up with the wrong combination of high water temperatures and chemical outflows into the Creek.

What is not so clear is the reason the phenomenon appears to be so much more extreme than in previous years. Usually, a few tonnes of dead fish wash up; this year, there have been reports of more than 100 tonnes being dumped in Dubai landfills since late September. Environmentalists claim they had never encountered the problem on such a scale. An official report has been compiled by Dubai Municipality and was due for release yesterday. But the release was postponed at the last minute, apparently for review by high-ranking members of the Dubai Government.

It could now be released by tomorrow, a spokesperson said yesterday they were unable to comment. Yesterday, the beach stretching from Al Garhoud Bridge to Business Bay was strewn with fish, some still alive but paralysed and gasping for air. Hundreds more lay on their sides in the waters of the creek itself. Most had begun to bloat as they started to decay, emitting a pungent smell. Rama Swarmi, 33, from India, is a safety assistant at Dubai Festival City's storm water station, situated next to Business Bay bridge, where about a hundred fish have been trapped in a sluice gate. He first noticed fish being washed ashore on Thursday.

"Most of the fish are about the size of a hand and they appear to have been paralysed," he said. "The smell for the last few days has been terrible and made it difficult for my team to work." Dr Ulrich Wernery, the scientific director of the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in Dubai, said that while such events do happen regularly in the Creek during summer, the magnitude of this event appeared to be much larger.

"Over the past few years, there are also some fish dying each year," said Dr Wernery. "It used to happen more or less once a year, and always in summer when the water temperature was high." Previous samples by CVRL had usually blamed high water temperatures and low levels of dissolved oxygen for causing suffocation and bacterial infections on the fishes' gills. "You have to face this phenomenon in any stagnant body of water during summer," said Dr Wernery.

However, he said the laboratory's previous work had investigated deaths of only several tonnes of fish on each occasion. He could not explain the difference in scale, nor say what could have caused this year's event, as CVRL has this time not received fish samples from the municipality. Previously, experts have pointed to outflow from the Al Aweer sewage treatment plant. The issue was discussed publicly last year in Dubai at the International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering. Then, several experts pointed to the nutrient-rich outflow of the sewage plant as the main reason why the Creek water was low in oxygen.

The water is treated so that the organic load and most harmful bacteria are removed. However it has very high concentrations of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrate, which at 22mg per litre, is several times the recommended safe norm. The nutrients allow algae to grow quickly, a problem exacerbated by the length of the Creek which makes it difficult to flush out the water in its upper part, where the sewage plant discharge is released.

The quality of the outflow has suffered, particularly in the last two years as sewage loads arriving at the plant have reached twice its design capacity. Dr John Burt, a marine biologist with New York University-Abu Dhabi, explained how nutrient-rich outflow from the sewage treatment plant could be affecting animals in the Creek. "An algal bloom associated with the high nutrient loads recently reported for the Deira creek could be one possible mechanism to explain the recent spike in fish mortality," he said.

"Increased algal growth is a common response to heavy nutrient loads in the marine system, which could result in fish deaths either through direct toxicity or by lowering the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water column." A number of species of algae do produce toxins that can have quite negative ecological consequences at high concentrations, including fish mortalities, said Dr Burt. "However, this is generally species-specific, and as far as I am aware there have been no reports of toxic algal species in the creek," he said. "More plausibly, the fish deaths may have resulted from low oxygen conditions brought on by high nutrient loads and warm water temperatures."

Warm, nutrient-rich water would be favourable for growth of algae and bacteria, he said. This, in turn, could lead to increased oxygen demand, lowering the amount of oxygen in the water available for fish. Such conditions have been associated with mass fish-mortalities in other areas, including that of Fujairah during the red tide last year. "However, this is purely speculative at this point, as there are a number of other possible factors that may have led to this particular event in the creek," he said.

"Dubai Municipality regularly collects water quality data in the creek, and are likely exploring all of these possibilities before making definitive public statements. "This is a sensitive issue, and the municipality will be working behind the scenes to find a rapid solution for this problem." vtodorova@thenational.ae tbrooks@thenational.ae

Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Company Profile

Company name: Fine Diner

Started: March, 2020

Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka

Based: Dubai

Industry: Technology and food delivery

Initial investment: Dh75,000

Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp

Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000

Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months

MATCH INFO

Manchester United v Everton
Where:
Old Trafford, Manchester
When: Sunday, kick-off 7pm (UAE)
How to watch: Live on BeIN Sports 11HD

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MATCH INFO

Al Jazira 3 (O Abdulrahman 43', Kenno 82', Mabkhout 90 4')

Al Ain 1 (Laba 39')

Red cards: Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain)

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: ten-speed

Power: 420bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: Dh325,125

On sale: Now

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HOW TO WATCH

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Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

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Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

MATCH INFO

Inter Milan v Juventus
Saturday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Watch the match on BeIN Sports

Key figures in the life of the fort

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.

Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.

Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae

The biog

Favourite car: Ferrari

Likes the colour: Black

Best movie: Avatar

Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy

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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)

Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)

Saturday

Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)

Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)

Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)

Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)

Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)

Sunday

Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)

Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)

Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cargoz%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Premlal%20Pullisserry%20and%20Lijo%20Antony%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2030%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

Opening day UAE Premiership fixtures, Friday, September 22:

  • Dubai Sports City Eagles v Dubai Exiles
  • Dubai Hurricanes v Abu Dhabi Saracens
  • Jebel Ali Dragons v Abu Dhabi Harlequins

Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company

Results

6.30pm Madjani Stakes Rated Conditions (PA) I Dh160,000 1,900m I Winner: Mawahib, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)

7.05pm Maiden Dh150,000 1,400m I Winner One Season, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar

7.40pm: Maiden Dh150,000 2,000m I Winner Street Of Dreams, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson

8.15pm Dubai Creek Listed Dh250,000 1,600m I Winner Heavy Metal, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer

8.50pm The Entisar Listed Dh250,000 2,000m I Winner Etijaah, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson

9.25pm The Garhoud Listed Dh250,000 1,200m Winner Muarrab, Dane O’Neill, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

10pm Handicap Dh160,000 1,600m Winner Sea Skimmer, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi


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