Data Zone
Country/territory: Saudi Arabia
IBA criteria met: A1, A4i, A4iii, B1i, B2, B3 (1994)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 200 hectares (2.00 km2)
Site description (1994 baseline)
A 4-km-long by 500-m-wide stretch of muddy and mud-sand intertidal flats, from Jizan Port to the northern edge of the city. The flats, enriched by sewage outfall from Jizan city, were in the past fringed by mangrove, but all such areas have now been lost to land-claim.
Key biodiversity
See box for key species. This site is a core area in a region of generally good wader habitat from Jizan south to the Yemen border. Densities are on average much higher than at neighbouring sites, due to the sewage outfalls of Jizan city. There is a peak January count of 20,053 waterbirds, though this was in 1992, an unusually cold winter, and may therefore be higher than typical; 10,000-15,000 waterbirds were present in December 1992.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Acknowledgements
Data-sheet compiled by P. Symens.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Jizan Bay (Saudi Arabia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/jizan-bay-iba-saudi-arabia on 25/12/2024.