Our Working Wonders of the UAE series takes you to some of the country's most recognisable destinations to uncover the daily duties of the talented employees working there
The moment Paul Hamilton first walked through the viewing tunnel of a New Zealand aquarium he realised what he wanted to do with his life.
It was an unforgettable encounter looking into the mouth of a shark as a young child that would set him on course for a career in which he would cross continents to pursue his passion.
Four decades on, the 45-year-old general manager of Abu Dhabi’s National Aquarium oversees 46,000 animals, with more than 330 species on display.
But back when he was second in command at Auckland Aquarium, two years after the marine biology graduate had landed a job there, Mr Hamilton met the inventor of 'tunnel technology'.
The inventor revealed he had more projects than he could handle and asked whether the 20-something could take one on.
How did it all start?
I’d never built an aquarium, obviously, but I agreed, and around 60 days later was on a plane to northern China.
I was dropped in the deep end to oversee construction of a US$200 million aquarium.
I’m now talking to this Chinese billionaire about this aquarium I'm supposed to build.
I was in China a couple of years, I finished the project, it opened, and it’s very successful.
I really learnt the hard way. That was essentially the launch of my career.
China changed my personality, I never did a project as hard again, and after that, I felt like I could do it all.
Where did you go from there?
More aquariums followed, including in Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Turkey, and Russia.
I designed the journeys, would manage construction, introduce the livestock, open the business and then hand it over … those projects were always square on my shoulders.
At 29 I got a call when Dubai Mall was going to include their record-breaking aquarium in its construction.
I got offered Atlantis [The Palm, Dubai] as well, so had to make a decision, but I had a feeling Dubai Mall was going to be more famous.
I loved that, while shopping, people might unintentionally run into this moment of nature.
It paved the way for by far my favourite aquarium I’ve worked on.
What did you find in Abu Dhabi?
I arrived in 2018 to foundations and building designs.
What really sealed it was creative freedom.
The beauty of the National Aquarium was that money could be spent in different ways.
You can spend it all on the largest window in the world, or the most water, or you can spend your money on intricate storytelling.
A lot more funding effort and attention was paid to details room by room, rather than investing everything in one massive show-off element.
We integrated a lot of technology with habitat, with livestock – things that had never been done before.
We have creatures I did not understand my whole career, and we nailed it here. Like the hammerhead … notoriously difficult to work with in an aquarium setting. How you introduce these sharks – in our case 10 – to this environment is so critical.
Plus while we were into the livestock side of putting this aquarium together, the pandemic was in full swing.
Planes I needed to fly the animals were being grounded, roads were closed, people were working from home when I needed them at the airport – and I’m flying sharks from the US.
Yeah, it was a tricky time to build an aquarium.
What is an interesting part of your job?
We also run an arm of Wildlife Rescue, which is a joint project with Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, for animal emergencies.
Knowing the ownership was willing to invest into conservation meant we could build a programme that would do bona fide good work in the environment.
Now we are seeing zoos and aquariums play critical roles in managing the last individuals of a species, trying to breed them back into populations.
This is definitely my best work … it let me hit a lot of personal objectives.
It’s getting more difficult for the average human to access the environment, and it may even be detrimental to try and see things for themselves. But it’s important, for the few protected areas we have, that we expose people to the creatures of those areas and create the connection.
My appreciation for marine life is as high as ever and the job’s an addiction. I can’t not have it in my life.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
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Scorebox
Dubai Hurricanes 31 Dubai Sports City Eagles 22
Hurricanes
Tries: Finck, Powell, Jordan, Roderick, Heathcote
Cons: Tredray 2, Powell
Eagles
Tries: O’Driscoll 2, Ives
Cons: Carey 2
Pens: Carey
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Malin Cilic (CRO) v Benoit Paire (FRA) [8]
Not before 4pm:
Dan Evans (GBR) v Fabio Fogini (ITA) [4]
Not before 7pm:
Pablo Carreno Busta (SPA) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) [2]
Roberto Bautista Agut (SPA) [5] v Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
Court One
Starting at 2pm
Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) v Dennis Novak (AUT)
Joao Sousa (POR) v Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
Not before 5pm:
Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (GBR) [1] v Marin Cilic v Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Nikoloz Basilashvili v Ricardas Berankis (LTU)
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments