Trapping of spring migrants on 
Qummah Island, Farasan archipelago 
in the Red Sea 
Dr Hassan M Felemban 
Introduction 
The trapping of migratory birds is well known as a serious problem in 
several Mediterranean countries eg. in Malta, Italy, Cyprus and Spain. 
In Egypt passerines are taken in large numbers: an estimated 270,000 
to 540,000 are captured for food each autumn along the Mediterranean 
coast alone (Goodman & Meininger 1989). In Saudi Arabia birds are 
caught for economic reasons in a small number of areas along the Red 
Sea coast (Buttiker 1988) and on Qummah island in the Farasan 
Islands (Juniper 1988). 
Study area and methods 
The Farasan archipelago comprises about ninety islands, located in the 
southern Red Sea, off the western coast of Saudi Arabia (see figure 1). 
The islands vary in size from about sixty kilometres in length (Farasan 
Al-Kebir) to islets of a a few square metres. They are formed of fos- 
silised coral and are low, barren and rather sparsely vegetated. Only a 
few small bushes and several palm trees occur on Qummah (16'^14'N 
42^02'E) which is six kilometres south of Farasan Al-Kebir (see figure 
2). About 300 people inhabit its lOkml This study was carried out 
during three consecutive spring migrations in order to observe the 
average number of species and individuals caught on Qummah. Most 
trapping was performed by local fishermen, with women and children 
regularly checking the traps between 0600 and 0900 each day. Fewer 
birds were collected during the rest of the day. Birds were identified 
and counted at a gathering spot near the houses. The birds from all 
traps on the island were counted on a daily basis between April 10th 
and May 6th. The total numbers recorded are likely to be an underes- 
timate as some birds were probably not brought to this central point. 
Most birds were identified by reference to Heinzel et al. (1979) and 
Hollom et al. (1988) but it was not always possible to separate close 
species pairs once counting started due to the limitations of time; the 
birds are cooked soon after capture. Therefore it is possible that 
among those birds identified as Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus 
1 
