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The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2011 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('key species') at the site:

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Cory's Shearwater Calonectris borealis	LC	passage (2005–2007)	489,607–673,032 individuals	A4ii, B1ii, C2
Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus	CR	passage (2007)	12,864–27,631 individuals	A1, A4ii, B1ii, C1, C2
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus	LC	passage (2007)	13,599–24,073 individuals	A4ii, B1ii, C3
Audouin's Gull Larus audouinii	VU	passage (2007)	42,000–48,000 individuals	A1, A4i, B1i, C1, C2
Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis	LC	passage (2006)	min 4,000 individuals	A4i, B1i, C2
Great Skua Catharacta skua	LC	passage (2007)	2,798–5,310 individuals	A4ii, B1ii, C3

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2011. The most recent assessment (2016) is shown below.

Pressure (threats to the key species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Pollution	happen­ing now	most of popul­ation/area (50–90%)	rapid deteri­oration (>30% over 3 gener­ations)	very high
Transportation and service corridors	happen­ing now	most of popul­ation/area (50–90%)	moderate deteri­oration (10–30% in 3 gener­ations)	high
Human intrusions and disturbance	happen­ing now	some of popul­ation/area (10–49%)	no deteri­oration (<1% over 3 gener­ations)	low
Agricultural expansion and intensification	happen­ing now	few individ­uals/small area (<10%)	no deteri­oration (<1% over 3 gener­ations)	low
Energy production and mining	likely in short term (within 4 years)	few individ­uals/small area (<10%)	slow deteri­oration (1–10% over 3 gener­ations)	low

Response (conservation actions taken for the key species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Little/none of site covered (<10%)	No manage­ment planning has taken place	Very little or no conservation action taking place	very low

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
1989	La Breña y Marismas del Barbate	Parque Natural (V)	1
2003	Estrecho	Parque Natural (V)	7

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Marine Neritic	major (>10)
Marine Oceanic	major (>10)

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Important Bird Area factsheet: Estrecho de Gibraltar (Spain). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/estrecho-de-gibraltar-iba-spain on 25/01/2025.