I came across an eye catching article in Gulf News a couple of days ago. The writer is a former principal of UAE University, Dr. Richard Hay.

He remembers his young days as an avid, fast & long distance swimmer in the Arabian sea. He encountered many aquatic species during his long distance swimming for over 45 years. The list goes like, crabs, ray fish, barracudas, turtles, jelly fish, dolphins, anchovies, snakes, pearl spots, sea breams and a host of other common fish, including sharks. Friends you will be amazed to know that he was never attacked or bitten by any of these beautiful creatures. He considered them as a part of his daily life.

His father was also a swimming enthusiast. He taught his son to love the blue ocean, enjoy the aroma of the sea and above all Respect nature. To him the great ocean symbolises universal love, which evokes all the emotions of a human being. His father was also a long distance swimmer in his region and he would regularly swim up to the buoys anchored in order to guide ships at sea. To everyone?s surprise, he was never confronted or attacked by a shark, even though there were a number of sharks in the area.

Contrary to this & to the utter shock of mankind, human beings have made Oceans a garbage dump. Many oceans carry the big garbage chunks as large as mini cities. That has resulted in destruction of millions of organisms, fishes, and other beautiful aquatic creatures.

I am proud to state that UAE has never dumped any garbage in the sea in fact it recycles the waste water & makes manure from the solid waste. Nothing is dumped into sea except for storm water. No drain is positioned towards sea. All drains leads to the recycling facilities.

It is agreeable that UAE is young nation as compared with the developed world but nothing is impossible. If all nations take up this challenge & refuse to dump their waste into sea this will be a big stride towards sustainability.

We must raise awareness through media, word of mouth, social networking etc. so that more & more people accept this idea that oceans are our lifeline only. All the rain that takes place originates from oceans. 2/3^rd of earth is water & we just cannot ignore & destroy this precious part of the ecological system.

Images Courtesy: http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ , http://www.alamy.com/