Dubai Civic body plans to increase inspectors on duty and impose higher penalties against those who  toss their  rubbish into Dubai Creek .

Even though the amount of rubbish has declined from 49 tonnes in 2012 to 23 tonnes in 2013, Dubai Municipality has a zero tolerance to littering and are imposing fines ranging from Dh500 (USD 136) to Dh5,000 (USD 1360).

Municipal officials yesterday  emphasised that once their bid to register Dubai Creek as a UNESCO World Heritage Site is approved, it will further enhance their efforts to beef up security against polluting the city?s waters.

Dubai municipality?s efforts in cleaning up Dubai Creek are carried out every day, but now it will have more divers to collect rubbish from the bottom of the water. Dubai is hopeful that Dubai Creek will be registered with UNESCO by next year, and because it is that important to the city, Municipal officials are always creating awareness campaigns and monitoring the area with inspectors .

The  most common type of rubbish found in Dubai Creek is solid waste, followed by plastic items. In Tuesday?s  clean up, divers found a chair, copper trays and plastic bottles.

There are currently eight inspectors who work in three shifts, and while the municipality has 11 divers, it cooperates with Dubai Police, Civil Defence and volunteers from social organisations and private companies to clean up the waters.

There are 43 divers that work throughout the week but the count is increased  up to 70 on Thursday afternoon and in the weekend, because that is when there are more passengers on abras (Traditional boat/water taxi of Dubai).

I feel such measures would be very effective  to spread awareness on preserving the marine environment among residents, fishermen and vessel crews.  

Source : Gulf News