Page 197 - UAE Truncal States_Neat

Chapter Five

Peninsula was caught alive near Masafi at the head of the Wadi Ham,
and presented to London Zoo,15 Its local name could not he verified.
Another type of mountain goal, Arabian taher or wa'al (Latin
hemitragus jayakari) has been reported to live on the Jabal Halit as
well as the Jabal al Akhdar in Oman. Lions used to live in the area,
particularly in the mountains, but have not been reported during the
last few hundred years. The shells of ostrich eggs are found
occasionally in the desert but it is believed to be some fifty years or
more since ostriches have been seen alive.

Fishing
Between them the seven sheikhdoms have 540 kilometres of
coastline. The east coast facing the Gulf of Oman consists of long
stretches of sweeping beaches and sandy bays intersected in places
where the barren Hajar mountains reach into the sea. A few rocky
islands are within sight of the coast. The chief characteristics of the
western coast facing the Gulf proper are shallow waters near the
shore, islands, sandbanks, lagoons, reefs and tidal channels which
rendered much of the coast before the construction of modern
harbours inaccessible to all but the people who regularly fished in
that area.
The fishing potential on both shores is very high. The southern
part of the Gulf is particularly productive during September to
March, when cooler, less saline and biologically enriched waters
from the Indian Ocean penetrate through the Straits of Hormuz for
about 160 kilometres along the coast from Ra’s al Khaimah to Dubai.
The water brings with it large numbers of pelagic fish such as tuna,
bonilo, mackerel, sardines and anchovy.
The Gulf of Oman coast is even richer in fish because there is a
constant upwelling of water from deep down in the contiguous
Indian Ocean which helps the abundant growth of plankton.
Fishermen do not need to go out very far to secure a good catch;
consequently deep sea fishing has not been developed. Trawling for
demersal fish is not so productive because the continental shelf is f
narrow and the grounds are not suitable. For most people in the
Trucial States fish has often been almost the only source of protein.
There have been fish markets and auctions in most towns and
villages on the coast, where fresh fish could be bought by those who l
did not go fishing themselves. But a large amount of fish protein
reached the population in the hinterland only in rather inferior sun-

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