Dr Saeed Mohamed of the University of Bahrain talked about the serious 
loss of coastal habitat that has occurred on the island in the last 30 years 
due to land claim and dredging. Formerly the most bird-rich natural 
coastal area was Tubli Bay, with extensive mangroves, freshwater springs 
discharging under the sea and rich mudflats mainly on the east side of the 
Bay. However, all of the mangroves and much else of the area was 
landfilled. The freshwater springs are drying up due to the massive use 
of underground water, leading to cut-backs in the extent of reed beds and 
date palms associated with the springs on land. Large areas of date palm 
plantahons are also being cleared to make way for urban developm.ent 
and other agriculture. A particularly poignant image was of the last 
mangrove tree in Tubli Bay, miraculously overlooked by the developers 
and now somehow surviving alone in a hollow in the middle of a 
supermarket car park. 
Not all is doom and gloom however: in 1986 an Amiri decree was passed 
to protect the remaining 200-250 ha of mangrove woodland in Bahrain 
and give it National Park status, and a national Environmental Protection 
Committee has been set up to identify key sites and try to preserve or 
protect them. However it has been proving difficult to arrive at 
compromises with developers. 
As a result of all the speeches, discussions and recommendations put 
forward during the conference, a Programme of Priority Actions was 
drawn up and distributed with commendable speed by the conference 
organisers, the International Wildfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau 
(IWRB) and the Asian Wetland Bureau (AWB). It is worth giving in full 
the priority actions specific to Middle Eastern countries: 
Bahrain 
The government is urged to impose a 
strict ban on all infilling of mangrove 
and mudflat areas along the east coast 
of the main island of Bahrain. 
Adequate protection should be given 
to small offshore islands, such as the 
Hawar Group. These islands support 
huge numbers of waterbirds (including 
the world's largest colony of Socotra 
Cormorants Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) 
as well as breeding Ospreys Pandion 
haliaetus and Sooty Falcons Falcc 
concolor. 
41 
