Environment Authority completes final phase of the coral reef rehabilitation project

Muscat: The Environment Authority (EA) has implemented the final phase of the coral reef rehabilitation project in the Daymaniyat Natural Reserve.

On Sunday, the Environment Authority, in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, implemented a project to dump out-of-service military equipment in the marine environment (an underwater museum) to create a suitable environment for the growth of coral reefs and the proliferation of marine organisms around it, in the Daymaniyat Natural Reserve off the coast of the Wilayats of Seeb and Barka.

The project aims to rehabilitate and increase the areas of coral reefs, compensate for the loss due to natural and human influences, and create a new ecosystem comparable to natural coral reefs. The site is expected to attract many marine creatures of various sizes, and there is an innovative idea to create an underwater military equipment museum.

The project also comes to support eco-tourism by creating a distinctive and innovative tourist attraction for tourists and diving enthusiasts that supports the tourism movement in the Sultanate of Oman in general, and reduces visitor pressure on the natural coral reef sites in the Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve.

It is noteworthy that coordinationwas made with the Ministry of Defence and the EA was provided with 8 equipment(7 Man Atlas trucks and a Skyven aircraft). A site was chosen near the islandsof the Daymaniyat Natural Reserve due to the suitability of the site in termsof the presence of natural coral reefs at an appropriate distance that may helpin the rapid growth and presence of coral reefs and marine organisms at theproject site.