“Coral is like an ecosystem architect – it creates a habitat,” said Darryl Owen, a UAE-based marine conservationist, who is spearheading an ‘underwater city’ project through artificial reefs to support the growth of biodiversity in the marine ecosystem, along the coast of Dibba, Fujairah in UAE.

Speaking at the Conservation Summit held as part of the sixth edition of Xposure International Photography Festival at Expo Centre Sharjah yesterday, the CEO of Freestyle Diving Centre, shed light on the underwater legacy being created in the UAE in collaboration with Azraq, a marine conservation non-profit organisation.

In a session titled, ‘Building Underwater Cities in the UAE’, Owen explained that coral reefs are an essential part of marine ecosystems and provide a habitat for more than 30% of the ocean species although they only make up less than one per cent of the ocean floor. “They keep themselves clean, do the gardening, and take the trash out, so to speak,” he added.

To protect one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the oceans, Owen helped launch the Dibba project to design ‘underwater cities’ – a collection of artificial reefs that mimic the characteristics of natural reefs and are designed to attract and house marine life.

“The water here in the UAE is fantastic for growing coral. But coral needs something solid to grow on, and we have a lot of sand,” he said, adding, “What we did was essentially coral gardening.”

The project kicked off in July 2021 on an ocean land granted byDibba Municipality. Work started by collecting broken thumb-sized pieces of coral from the ocean floor and propagating them in tubes on special nursery tables before finally being transplanted.

He added that the unique structures, which combined functionality with a little bit of art, supported the coral, noting that as many as 23 structures have been built since the project’s launch.

The team used photography and videography to document the growth and colonisation of the species that had arrived at the reefs.

“We’ve seen so many beautiful images today of marine life and other animals from around the world,” said Owen, calling on the audience at the Conservation Summit to volunteer support with Freestyle Diving as a sponsor, coral propagator, or a diving instructor.