Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
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.
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.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The site is situated near an airport, the activities of which are a source of a significant amount of disturbance. Other threats to the site are hunting and the presence of numbers of feral dogs. As long as the saltpans remain a functioning entity, the site will be of importance. It would be desirable to guarantee their long-term survival, in view of the loss of the Mégrine saltpans and the expansion of tourism facilities in the immediately surrounding area.
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 23/12/2024.
