Doha, August 20 (QNA) - Qatar Museums, in cooperation with the UNESCO Regional Office for the Gulf States and Yemen, has marked the International Day for Underwater Cultural Heritage, observed annually on August 21, highlighting international efforts to raise awareness of underwater cultural heritage as part of humanity's shared cultural legacy and collective memory. 
The function reflects the shared commitment of QM and the UNESCO Regional Office for the Gulf States and Yemen to the principles of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which provides an international framework for safeguarding such heritage, as well as to international cooperation and knowledge exchange in archaeology and cultural heritage.
  To mark the occasion, the National Museum of Qatar (NMQ) hosted Thursday a public conference titled ‘Coastal and Maritime Cultural Heritage in Qatar' bringing together archaeologists and heritage specialists to present their research on Qatar's coastal landscapes, maritime traditions and historical communities.
Director of the Archaeology Department at Qatar Museums Faisal Abdullah Al Nuaimi reiterated the commitment to expand understanding of Qatar's past alongside efforts to preserve and promote its cultural heritage through an integrated approach that deepens knowledge of the country's heritage and makes it accessible to the public while preserving its value for future generations.
He described Qatar's coastal and maritime heritage as a fundamental pillar of the country's history and shared identity.
Al Nuaimi added that understanding and preserving this unique heritage requires continued scientific research and strengthened conservation efforts, alongside greater public engagement in raising awareness of its value and significance. He stressed the importance of fostering a deeper understanding of this heritage and ensuring its protection and sustainability so that it can be passed on to future generations as an integral part of Qatar's historical and cultural memory.
The conference featured two sessions in which experts from Qatar Museums' Archaeology Department and UNESCO discussed research, documentation, conservation and sustainable management of underwater cultural heritage. They also explored sustainable approaches to managing such heritage while balancing its protection and preservation with scientific research and public engagement.
The first session focused on the UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the organization's efforts to safeguard this form of cultural heritage.
Acting Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for the Gulf States and Yemen in Doha Farida Aboudan said Qatar's accession to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage reflects the country's commitment to protecting and preserving its heritage in accordance with internationally recognized standards.
She highlighted UNESCO's appreciation of the role played by Qatar Museums in archaeological preservation, noting the cooperation between the two sides on several projects, as well as the launch of various initiatives aimed at strengthening heritage protection and raising awareness of its value.
She explained that the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is among the international frameworks adopted by UNESCO to preserve and safeguard archaeological heritage. She stressed the importance of collective action and cooperation among relevant stakeholders, which can make a significant contribution to preserving archaeological heritage and ensuring its sustainability for future generations.
For her part, Culture Programme Specialist at the UNESCO Regional Office for the Gulf States and Yemen, Jawda Mansour praised Qatar, represented by Qatar Museums, for hosting the International Day for Underwater Cultural Heritage, which UNESCO is celebrating for the first time this year following the adoption of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in 2001. The Convention provides an international framework for strengthening the protection of underwater cultural heritage, which preserves an important part of peoples' memory and maritime history.
  She explained that the Convention provides various mechanisms for cooperation among states in the research, excavation, documentation and preservation of submerged archaeological sites. Among its key mechanisms are multilateral underwater archaeological missions, the exchange of expertise and knowledge, and the development of professional practices for dealing with underwater heritage sites, in addition to meetings of States Parties and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body.
Mansour noted that protecting underwater cultural heritage faces multiple challenges, including the need to develop specialized expertise in underwater archaeology and strengthen documentation and surveying tools. She also stressed the need to strike a balance between making sites available for research and scientific and cultural purposes and ensuring their protection from interference or deterioration.
She affirmed that the future of underwater cultural heritage protection depends on cooperation among states, specialized institutions and researchers, as well as on developing local expertise and benefiting from international experience. She stressed that such heritage is not merely a collection of remains on the seabed, but rather part of humanity's collective memory that deserves to be protected, studied and brought to wider public attention.
In turn, Dr. Wafaa Suleiman, an underwater cultural heritage expert at Qatar Museums, said the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage had brought about an important shift in maritime archaeology by establishing a set of international rules and standards aimed at protecting, documenting and studying underwater cultural heritage and strengthening cooperation among states in this field.
She explained that the importance of the Convention lies in its establishment of a dedicated international legal framework for the protection of underwater cultural heritage. It requires States Parties to take the necessary legislative and administrative measures to protect such heritage, while strengthening international cooperation in dealing with submerged sites and archaeological remains to ensure the preservation of their scientific, historical and cultural value.
She stressed that the future of underwater archaeology requires strengthened scientific research, documentation and archaeological surveying, the development of specialized expertise, the use of modern technologies, and enhanced international cooperation. She emphasized that protecting this heritage does not mean isolating it from the public, but rather facilitating responsible access to it and documenting it through non-destructive methods whenever compatible with appropriate protection and management practices.
Dr. Suleiman added that protecting underwater cultural heritage means more than preserving archaeological artifacts and shipwrecks; it also involves safeguarding the historical and scientific information contained within these sites, raising public awareness of their value, and developing specialists' capacity to study and protect them. 
The second session of the conference examined Qatar's efforts to protect and preserve its coastal landscapes and historical communities, as part of the country's commitment to understanding its past, preserving its cultural heritage and raising public awareness of its value.
In this context, Director of the Archaeology Department at Qatar Museums Faisal Abdullah Al Nuaimi delivered a presentation titled "Fish Traps in Qatar," addressing the threats facing these traditional structures.
He noted that the scale and widespread distribution of fish traps along Qatar's coastline had a significant impact on the regional economy during the late Islamic period. He added that fishing using these traps may at times have constituted a major component of the local economy, particularly given the low population density before the development of the oil industry.
"Future studies should examine more closely the structure of the coastal economy and the apparent relationship between fish traps and coastal settlement," Al Nuaimi said.
He stressed the importance of conducting ethnographic and documentary studies in the future to establish a basis for understanding the social and economic framework within which these fisheries operated. Such studies could provide valuable information on who built and maintained the fish traps, the scale of effort required to construct them, the expected catches during different seasons, and whether fishing generated a sufficient surplus to support an export trade.
For his part, Head of Excavation and Site Management at Qatar Museums, Dr. Farhan Sakal discussed the Al Sirriya archaeological site in southwestern Qatar, located approximately one kilometer from the coast. The site contains an almost square-shaped structure that may have included an open courtyard. It was first documented in 2012 and is believed to date to the Islamic period.
Dr. Sakal noted that architectural features uncovered at the site, including a rectangular room and a circular pillar, suggest that the structure may belong to the early Islamic architectural tradition. He added that findings related to changes in sea levels underscore the importance of studying the natural transformations that helped shape the area's archaeological landscape and understanding the relationship between environmental changes and human settlement over the centuries.
He stressed that archaeological sites and natural heritage features currently face challenges associated with sustainable development, underscoring the need to protect and preserve them to ensure their continued existence as part of the world's cultural and natural heritage. He also pointed to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage as one of the international frameworks adopted by UNESCO to emphasize the importance of safeguarding and preserving such heritage.
For his part, heritage researcher Robert Carter said the study of underwater cultural heritage is not limited to searching for shipwrecks, but also encompasses understanding what people did underwater in the past, foremost among these activities being pearl diving.
He noted that Qatar remained closely connected to the sea until the mid-20th century, with around 90 percent of Qataris directly engaged in pearl diving, while the remainder depended on the industry indirectly. Qatar's coastal towns and villages were largely communities whose livelihoods were centered on the profession.
Pearl fisheries, he said, represent an important aspect of underwater cultural heritage, alongside submerged freshwater springs known locally as "Al Khwar" or "Al Shousha." Nakhudas (ship captains) and divers reached these sites relying on accumulated experience and a mental map of the sea, often without the need for maps or a compass. They identified the locations of pearl fisheries by observing the direction of currents, the color of the water, the shape of the waves and even the smell of mud on the seabed.
He noted that the first maps of pearl fisheries did not appear until the early 20th century, making these sites worthy of further research today as places that could reveal previously undocumented aspects of the history of maritime life in Qatar and the Gulf. (QNA)