Warm waters and beaches aplenty

The sea has always provided a valuable resource for the people of the Emirates. The warm, clean waters of the Arabian Gulf have yielded a bounty of seemingly unlimited wealth and nutrition. Fished for centuries, the Gulf still provides plentiful stocks of great variety.

In the past, along the beaches of Jumeirah, fish traps could be of the fixed, hadra type by which fish were guided along a stake-fence and finally into a small enclosure where they were harvested at low-tide; or else small moveable garghour traps woven from palm fronds, weighted down by stones, and baited to entice fish to enter through a narrow hole. In addition to fish, turtles and dugongs also provided valuable protein. Today, fishermen set off daily from the shores of Dubai and harvest superb fresh fish for the tables of modern hotels and restaurants.

As can be expected, the inhabitants of the hinterland made every possible use of the resources which this area of beaches, sand banks, creeks and inshore islands offered. They also colonised the many more distant islands. The extensive tidal shallows, which are characteristic of most of this coast, are ideal for fishing with traps. But there were also methods by which one man alone could secure a good catch as, for instance, by stalking a shoal of small fish in the shallow water and casting over it a circular net weighted with stones. Fish which was not consumed fresh were hung up in the sun to dry, or treated with salt, and taken to the inland settlements where this additional protein was very welcome.

The local coast of Jumeirah is still home to fishing communities who use traditional wooden dhows exactly like the one in our harbour at Mina A' Salam.