Coral reefs are the world’s most diverse and beautiful
marine ecosystems. The incredible variety of life on them as well as the bright
colorations and complex interactions of reef organisms have fascinated many a
tourist and a scientist, who have taken their pleasure visiting and studying
these extraordinary rainforests of the sea wherever on the planet they can be
Corals and their congregations, the reef, are best
developing in warm, clear, shallow seas where there is an abundance of light.
Reefs are primarily created by reef-building corals and the reef framework is
formed by deposits of hard calcium carbonate skeletons, which are secreted by
living corals as well as skeletons of dead coral cemented together by coralline
algae. Like rainforests, coral reefs photosynthe, host thousands of algae,
corals, worms, molluscs, crustaceans, fish and other animals and constitute
probably the most important ecosystems in the world. They also act as natural
wave-breakers protecting coastal areas from erosion and help create stable reef
islands. They are invaluable to life on
earth as well as to the human existence due to all these functions.
In Kuwait, coral reefs are of international interest mainly
because they have grown in environmental conditions previously thought to be
too extreme to allow corals to survive. They have not been destroyed by the
massive Gulf War oil-spills in 1991 and this was documented by several
international scientific expeditions. A new species of coral was discovered by
scientists in 1995 which may explain the tolerance of reefs in general, in the
Arabian Gulf. There are lots of fascinating facts surrounding reefs in Kuwait.
The Kuwait Turtle Conservation project, sponsored by TOTAL
Foundation and TOTAL Kuwait and in cooperation with the Voluntary Work Center
and the Scientific Center, encounters corals on islents; Garouh and Umm
Al-Maradim as part of its work on sea turtles. Coral reefs in Kuwait are
largely restricted to the southern area of the country, including a range of
offshore platform and smaller patch reefs, as well as near-shore patch reefs
and fringing coral communities along the southern coastline. Depth is rarely
more than 15 meters and the best developed reefs are found around the
Umm Al-Maradim is 550m long and its reef is about 1.4km
long and 1.1km wide. It is mostly constituted by massive Porites corals as well
as Acropora and Stylophora. Amazing fauna and flora is to be found on this
Garouh is a smaller island. The round-shaped sand cay is
about 200m long, in the center of an oval-shaped reef which extends 1.3 km in
length and about 600m in width. This reef is one of the most pristine, diverse,
and beautiful reefs in Kuwait, hosting fish nurseries, turtles and many other
species. Like in the case of Umm Al-Maradim, this reef, too, is dominated by
Acropora and Porites corals.
In the summer and early autumn months, the KTCP team has
encountered hard and soft corals, sometimes with colorful brittlestars tangled
up around them. Tiny creatures such as shrimps, crabs and blennies peek out of
branch formations and tiny holes, while damselfish, lionfish, nudibranchs and
needlefish seem to find a heavenly home in the shallows. Snorkelers can swim
amongst them as equals there.
But Acropora (Table) corals are particularly vulnerable to
destruction. Their huge branches extend up to 4 meters in diameter sometimes.
This length takes many, many years to develop and it is a real disaster for
many of these mesmerizing formations to succumb to one instant reckless
anchoring of a leisure boat. Dive teams, such as Senyar and the Kuwait Dive
team, are placing mooring buoys all over the shallow perimeters of Garouh, Umm
Al-Maradim and Kubbar islands, in areas convenient for leisure vessels to moor.
In order to keep enjoying the amazing riches of Kuwaiti reefs, it is necessary
to be cautious while anchoring, littering and spear gun fishing. Keeping in
mind that it is the home of thousands of creatures to which we come as
visitors, it is imperative to treat these unique and fragile ecosystems with a
maximum of respect. It is our duty to preserve them intact for future generations
to enjoy exactly like we do today.