• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
The site lies 20 km from Mahajanga. Bombetoka Bay is delimited, in the north, by a line from Katsepy in the west to the headland just north of Boanamary in the east, and, in the south, by the Marovoay flood-plain. The bay consists of mangrove islets (c.43,500 ha) separated by channels (c.21,500 ha at high tide) and mudflats (c.8,500 ha at low tide), with shallow subtidal waters in the estuary. The water is shallow (less than 5 m deep at low tide), except towards the mouth, and is very turbid. Northern mangroves are relatively degraded (3–4 m high), while those toward the south are in better condition; likewise, those on the coast are more intact than those in brackish, inland areas, where the canopy is 6–8 m high. The largest mudflats lie immediately seaward of the mangrove islets. A muddy bar crosses the mouth of the estuary, c.10 m wide and covered with scattered mangroves. The Marovoay wetlands comprise a vast area of rice-fields, marshes with Cyperaceae, and a large reservoir, Lake Amboromalandy.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. Sixty species are known from the site, of which 10 are endemic to Madagascar. The occurrence of a large, seasonal congregation of Anas bernieri (the largest known), and of several individuals of Threskiornis (aethiopicus) bernieri, in the Bombetoka estuary, is notable. The eastern part of Lake Amboromalandy is very rich in waterbirds.

Non-bird biodiversity: Sirenian: Dugong dugon (VU; present, according to local people).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Bombetoka Bay - Marovoay NPA (Madagascar). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/bombetoka-bay--marovoay-npa-iba-madagascar on 27/12/2024.