Kharku Wildlife Refuge (8151)
Iran, Islamic Republic of, Middle East
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: D1a
Year of last assessment: 1994
National site name: Kharku Wildlife Refuge
Central coordinates: Latitude: 29.3167, Longitude: 50.3500
System: marine, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 0 to 3
Area of KBA (km2): 3.01326
Protected area coverage (%): 99.99
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Kharku is a low, sandy, coral island with fringing reefs in the northern Persian Gulf, c.30 km off the mainland coast and 60 km north-west of Bushire. Surface water is lacking, but there is a freshwater well. Most of the island is covered in dune vegetation of grasses and low shrubs. It is fringed by a sandy beach with low vegetation. There are a few banyan trees near the south end of the island. The island was uninhabited until the late 1970s, when an airforce camp with a substantial landing stage and a number of permanent buildings was built at the north end. The nearby island of Khark (Kharg) is a major oil terminal.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs.
Additional biodiversity: See box for key species. An important site for breeding terns. Surveys in 1974 and 1977 indicated that c.5 pairs of Sterna bergii, 600 pairs of S. bengalensis, 2,500 pairs of S. repressa and 250-300 pairs of S. anaethetus were frequenting the island, but breeding success was minimal in both years because of egg-collecting by local fishermen. Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Delineation rationale: Type 1 marine IBA: suitable for the seaward extension approach. 2009-11-30 (BL Secretariat): WDPA (2009) implies that the current area of Kharko Wildlife Refuge is 2398 ha; however, national confirmation of this is needed, before the IBA area is increased accordingly, since the WDPA (2009) polygon clearly has an area of c.300 ha, not c.2400 ha, and also the historical area of the PA (upon declaration in 1960) was c.2400 ha, but most of this area (the neighbouring, much larger Khark island) was de-notified in the 1970s; therefore the WDPA (2009) figure of c.2400 ha seems likely to be in error.
Habitats
Land use: military | nature conservation and research (100%)
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Marine Coastal/Supratidal | 95 | |
| Marine Neritic | 5 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: Kharku and the nearby much larger island of Khark were designated as a Protected Region in 1960 with a total area of 2,438 ha. The reserve was upgraded to Wildlife Refuge in the early 1970s, but the Khark portion was de-notified a few years later leaving only Kharku protected in the Kharko Wildlife Refuge (312 ha). The island was visited by egg-collectors every year during the 1970s, and the terns' breeding success was extremely low. There is an ever-present threat of oil pollution from the major terminal on the nearby island of Khark.
Additional information
References: Argyle (1977a), Firouz et al. (1970), Gallagher et al. (1984), Scott (1975b, 1976a,b).