Research vessel in mission to monitor Qatar's marine environment

Research vessel Janan has embarked on a new mission to monitor Qatar’s marine environment, it was announced yesterday. Supervised by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MoECC) in cooperation with the Environmental Sciences Centre at Qatar University (QU), the vessel will check the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in its three-day journey.The monitoring and research process, according to a statement from the MoECC, is carried out by a team of specialists and researchers from the ministry and QU.Dr Mai Mohammed al-Ghanem, head of the Aquatic Environment Quality Section at the Environmental Monitoring and Inspection Department, said the journey aims to collect sediment and marine water samples from the specified sites to measure the most prominent physical and chemical environmental variables such as water temperature, salinity, saturated dissolved oxygen and turbidity. The research team will classify various organisms and identify their types.Abdullah al-Khulaifi, assistant director of the Environmental Monitoring and Inspection Department, said the mission is important and reflects the significance of research activities by the government."This trip will produce accurate results on the state of the marine environment of Qatar in addition to studying the environmental elements of soil and shallow or deep regional coastal waters,” he explained.The research vessel, manned by expert technicians, has the latest equipment, tools and specialised laboratories to monitor environmental variables on the spot.