Jaza'ir al-Zubayr (8345)
Yemen, Middle East
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: D1a
Year of last assessment: 1994
National site name: Jaza'ir al-Zubayr
Central coordinates: Latitude: 15.0367, Longitude: 42.1817
System: marine, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 0 to 224
Area of KBA (km2): 137.00256
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: The Zubair group comprises ten main islands and a couple of small rocks. All the islands are of volcanic origin, being eroded ash cones and lava. They are situated adjacent to the deep waters of the central Red Sea trench (all around the island the sea has depths of 500 m or more) and close to the Red Sea shipping lanes
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: The Zubair group of islands hold important breeding populations of seabirds with significant populations of notably brown booby, sooty gull, white-eyed gull and sooty falcon (c25 pairs). The islands also may be the northernmost colony of masked booby. Other wildlife: evidence of turtles nesting on several islands
Delineation rationale: Type 2 marine IBA: non-breeding (coastal) congregations. 2009-01-05 (BL Secretariat): the islands do not appear on Google Earth imagery, so screenshots were made in another virtula globe software that does show the islands (Microsoft Virtual Earth) and then imported into GE, made semi-transluscent and then roughly geo-referenced by stretching and moving the images; the islands were then surrounded by a polygon, extending c. 1 km offshore; the 1994 coordinates lie outside this polygon, so have been shifted to lie within.
Habitats
Summary of habitats in KBA: Several islands are devoid of vegetation and only a few have sandy shores suitable for landing. Resident passerines were absent from these islands . possibly on account of the large population of summer breeding Sooty Falcons. Breeding terns were also absent.
Land use: military | not utilised
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Marine Neritic | 5 | |
| Desert | 48 | |
| Marine Coastal/Supratidal | 48 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: Threats: With the exception of Saba island the overall level of disturbance to birds on the islands appears low, because of difficulty in landing and in moving around on them. Since the Eritrean occupation of Hannish island further south in the 1990s, the islands have become politically sensitive and as a result there are now small army camps on Zubair and Centre Peak islands. The personnel of these camps are a threat to the seabirds as they collect birds eggs and young for food. They are also probably the source of introduced cats on those two islands and possibly the dog that has been reported on Zubair island. Fishermen use the islands as sheltered anchorage at night and appear to regularly come ashore to sleep and to seek out birds’ eggs and probably also turtle eggs. The islands are also visited by boats form the mainland seeking to capture live ‘tropical fish’ for the aquarium trade. The islands are also possibly impacted by floating rubbish and plastic
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human intrusions & disturbance | Work & other activities | Only in the future |