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Establishing the Baseline of Marine Resources of the Sultanate of Oman

Adnan Rashid Al-Azri, Sultan Qaboos University, aalazri@yahoo.com
Khalid Abdulla Al-Hashmi, Sultan Qaboos University, khalid99@squ.edu.om
Joaquim Goes, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science, jgoes@bigelow.org (Presenting)
Helga Gomes, Bigelow Laboratory for, hgomes@bigelow.org

The extensive coastline of the Sultanate of Oman has shaped its culture, economy, history and its people for millennia. Today, even with an oil-driven economy, coastal marine resources are still of great economic importance and continue to influence and sustain the lifestyle of the people of Oman. Marine living resources along the coast of Oman provide abundant food and opportunities for tourism and recreation. Unfortunately, the continuous pressure of development threatens this marine environment primarily via over-fishing, global climate change, habitat modification and destruction and coastal zone pollution. In order to achieve conservation and long-term sustainable use of marine living resources we need to build a fundamental understanding of the coast through continuous monitoring and research that will allow us to differentiate between anthropogenic and natural variability. We have been collecting data from three monitoring sites, two of which are located in the Gulf of Oman and one in Arabian Sea at Masira from 2004 onwards. Data collected includes phytoplankton diversity, and hydrographic parameters such as temperature, salinity, nutrients and oxygen that will not only provide us with baseline data necessary for future studies on anthropogenic impacts on this ecosystem but also a better understanding of the seasonal and interannual changes associated with monsoonal forcing. In this paper we address the seasonal monsoonal cycle and its impact on the biology of the coastal waters and use our findings to arrive at conclusions about how variability in phytoplankton and its environment could impact the food chain of this ecosystem.


NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster:

  • Award: NNX07AK82G
    Start Date: 2007-06-01
     

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