Stingrays washed ashore at Al Hail beach

Numerous stingrays and mackerels were found dead by morning walkers on Monday. Out for an early morning walk, Maryam Khalfan was in for a shock as she and her family kept coming across stingrays and another fish one after the other. “Interesting was the fact that they were far away from the water, so maybe it happened during the high tide,” said Maryam and added, “The more I walked, the more fish I saw.” The majority of the fish were spotted opposite Masjid Fatma on Al Hail beach. “I found them across from the beach near Al Mouj towards Al Hail. The entire beach was covered by the stingrays and other fish varieties,” she noted. Stingrays are known to swim in shallow waters feeding on smaller fishes. Captain Saheem Salem, a fisherman who has now moved into the tourism industry, said from his professional perspective, “Water is very cold now. However, stingrays like to hunt near shallow waters but the danger is also that they run out of oxygen. On some occasions, they get trapped in fishermen’s nets which could have been close to the shore and they might have dumped them. This, however, is for a long-distance and fishermen have been exchanging videos of the seagulls feeding on the dead mackerels. I am seeing this for the first time.” He reflected, “A couple of years ago huge shoals of tuna came into Marina Bander Al Rowdha and died. This could have happened again and stingrays like to feed on mackerels and sardines. But they would run out of oxygen which would eventually kill them. And about 10 years ago in a village near Bander Al Rowdha called Yiti several dolphins were stranded because they were escaping from killer whales and then they did not know how to go back. But this is the first I am seeing so many rays for such a long stretch.”