Occasional sighting survey

A survey questionnaire was conducted in February-April 2012 to estimate the frequency of occasional sighting of dolphins in the Dubai waters and provide baseline information to better design the survey area.

In this map all the locations of the sightings recorded during the interviews have been reported. Sixty-one users of the waters along the Dubai coastline were interviewed including private owners of motor and sailing boat, charter companies captains, public transport captains and canoeists.

The majority of the interviewees have seen dolphins at least once (84%), and although the majority of those affirmed that they see dolphins only “sometimes or rarely”, 74% had seen dolphins in the four months before the interview. 

Most of the sightings were reported within 5 miles from shore and most of them in coastal and highly frequented locations like in front of Palm Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab.

A big thank you goes to everybody that agreed to be interviewed and dedicated his time to answer to my questions.