Data Zone
Country/territory: Tunisia
IBA criteria met: A4i (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 1,000 ha
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2009 | unfavourable | medium | low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
The site is (with Thyna, site TN027) one of the only two remaining salt-production plants left in Tunisia following the closure of the Mégrine saltpans (site TN009). Because of the salt-production work, there is a series of shallow pans of varying salinity, where water-levels vary from day to day and attract many waterbirds. The plant is situated between the cities of Monastir and Sousse (with their extensive tourist facilities along the neighbouring beaches), and within a former coastal sebkha, part of which still functions as a saline depression in wet winters. The halophytic vegetation of the sebkha is dominated by Arthrocnemum and Salicornia species.
Key biodiversity
See Box for key species. The area is also important for wintering and passage waterbirds, with up to 1,000 Tadorna tadorna in winter, waders (notably Himantopus himantopus and Recurvirostra avosetta which may breed) and breeding Larus cachinnans, S. albifrons and, perhaps, some S. hirundo.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Salines de Monastir (Tunisia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/salines-de-monastir-iba-tunisia on 23/11/2024.