Current view: Text account
Site description (1994 baseline):
Site location and context
A formerly undisturbed 15-km-stretch of coast, with a wide variety of natural habitats in a small area.
See table for key species. The mangrove and doum palms support an interesting breeding avifauna, including
Butorides striatus,
Milvus migrans,
Pandion haliaetus (1 pair),
Cypsiurus parvus,
Acrocephalus stentoreus (probably),
A. baeticatus (probably),
Ploceus rueppelli and
Lonchura cantans. A very wide variety of coastal waterbirds occur on passage and in winter (a few in good numbers though there have never been any comprehensive counts) including
Pelecanus rufescens (90, April) and
Sterna bengalensis (300, October).
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals: dolphins (probably including Tursiops) are frequent offshore; Genetta felina (rare). Reptiles: Chelonia mydas (E) is common offshore, and Dermochelys coriacea (E) has been recorded; other sea-turtle species probably also occur.
A steep sand beach dominates the area, backed mainly by sand-dunes and a few stretches of sabkhah. The beach is broken by a tidal inlet c.5 km south of the fishing village of Al-'Urj, at the pseudo-mouth of a wadi, and is backed here by a raised alluvial silt/gravel plain with associated 3+ m-high coastal cliffs, well-developed mangrove (5-10 ha), intertidal mud/sandflats and a sand barrier-beach. Offshore there is a fringing coral reef and seagrass beds are moderately common. The substantial seepage of fresh groundwater at the tidal inlet feeds several brackish wells and small ponds and supports an extensive coastal fringe of doum palm
Hyphaene and date palm
Phoenix groves/scrub (c.200 ha) as well as
Odyssea/
Aeluropus spiny-grass pastures on the sabkhah by the tidal inlet. The coastal, silt plain is sparsely vegetated with
Suaeda dwarf-shrubland, grading into sparse
Panicum grassland further inland. The main human activity is fishing, but the area is also regularly used for recreation/camping; in 1990 there were plans to build a tourist hotel. The mangrove-lined tidal inlet is probably important as a spawning ground and nursery area for shrimps/prawns and fish, and the doum palm woodland is highly valued by local fisherfolk for building/thatching material. The mangrove and spiny-grass flats are grazed by goats and camels.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
It is not known whether the planned hotel has been built, and if so, to what extent destruction of habitat, depletion of freshwater supply, pollution through waste disposal, and excessive disturbance of birds has been avoided. Campers' fires have burned down areas of the
Hyphaene palm woodland locally.
Updates.
Threats: a recreation area and much disturbance at times; there have been plans to build a hotel.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
No formal conservation measures are known to have been taken, although the establishment of marine parks has been considered in the past, and this area has been recommended for special management by a PERSGA study team in 1985.
Data-sheet compiled by M. I. Evans.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Al-'Urj (Yemen). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/al-urj-iba-yemen on 25/12/2024.
