Data Zone
Country/territory: Tunisia
IBA Criteria met: A4i (2010)
For more information about IBA criteria please click here
Area: 2,000 ha
Protection status:
| Most recent IBA monitoring assessment | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment | Threat score (pressure) | Condition score (state) | Action score (response) |
| 2001 | high | near favourable | negligible |
| For more information about IBA monitoring please click here | |||
Site description
Garaet Mabtouh is a freshwater marsh, situated some 20 km south of Bizerte, in the lower flood-plain of the Medjerda, Tunisia’s largest river (which rises in Algeria). Formerly, the whole of the flood-plain must have been a magnificent wetland, but most has now been reclaimed for agriculture, and Garaet Mabtouh is the only part which still floods. In dry winters the site is not flooded, but in wet seasons it can hold considerable numbers of waterbirds, no doubt originating at nearby Ichkeul.
Key biodiversity
See Box for key species. Other species wintering at the site include Egretta garzetta, Ardea cinerea, Anas penelope, A. crecca, Circus aeruginosus, Fulica atra, Grus grus, Himantopus himantopus, Pluvialis apricaria and Vanellus vanellus.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2019) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Garaet Mabtouh. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 10/12/2019.
