Gulf of Salwah (Saudi Arabia) - BirdLife IBA factsheet

SA013

Gulf of Salwah

Current view: Data table and detailed info

IBA Justification

The site was identified as important in 1994 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting ('triggering') IBA criteria.

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

Species	Red List¹	Season	Year(s)	Size	IBA criteria
Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus	LC	winter	1992	1,086 individuals	A4i, B1i
Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis	LC	winter	1992	2,378 individuals	A4i, B1i
Western Reef-egret Egretta gularis	LC	resident	1992	100 breeding pairs	B1i
Western Reef-egret Egretta gularis	LC	winter	1992	130-486 individuals	B1i
Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis	VU	breeding	1992	11,000 breeding pairs	A1, A4i, B1i, B2
Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans	LC	winter	1992	560-2,500 individuals	B1i
Bridled Tern Onychoprion anaethetus	LC	breeding	1992	1,000 breeding pairs	B1i
White-cheeked Tern Sterna repressa	LC	breeding	1992	2,000 breeding pairs	A4i, B1i, B3
Lesser Crested Tern Thalasseus bengalensis	LC	breeding	1992	2,000 breeding pairs	A4i, B1i
A4iii Species group - seabirds	n/a	breeding	1993	16,100 breeding pairs	A4iii

1. The current IUCN Red List category. The category at the time of the IBA criteria assessment (1994) may differ.

IBA Conservation

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 1994. The most recent assessment (2013) is shown below.

IBA conservation assessment
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2013	not assessed	low	negligible
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
yes	unset	unknown

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Human intrusions and disturbance	happening now	small area/few individuals (<10%)	no or imperceptible deterioration	low

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Protected areas	Management plan	Other action	Result
Little/none of site covered (<10%)	No management planning has taken place	Not assessed	negligible

Habitats

Habitat¹	Habitat detail	% of IBA
Desert		major (>10)
Marine Neritic		major (>10)
Marine Coastal/Supratidal		minor (<10)

1. IUCN Habitat classification.

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
urban/industrial/transport	major (>10)
fisheries/aquaculture	minor (<10)
rangeland/pastureland	minor (<10)
tourism/recreation	minor (<10)
other	minor (<10)

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Gulf of Salwah (Saudi Arabia). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/gulf-of-salwah-iba-saudi-arabia on 23/11/2024.