Aqaba Marine Reserve is a nature reserve located in the

Aqaba Aqaba ( , ; , ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative center of the Aqaba Governorate. The city had a population of 148, ...

Governorate,

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, established in 1997, covers an area of 2.8 square kilometers. This reserve is considered a habitat for important marine life, such as

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

. It is known for its distinctive fish diversity and coral diversity. The marine park has numerous recorded

waterbirds A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

, especially

gulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gul ...

terns Terns are seabirds in the family (biology), family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genus, genera in a subgroup of the fam ...

, and

skuas The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the Arctic skua, the long-tailed skua, and the pomarine skua, are called ...

Description

The reserve is home to 300 species of hard and soft coral, 512 species of various fish, 3 types of seagrass beds, and two main types of shallow seagrass communities, ranging from half a meter to 40 meters in depth. The annual rainfall is about 30 mm, and the temperature ranges from 14°C in winter to 32°C in summer, with a maximum of up to 50°C. The humidity ranges between 30-55%, and the climate is dry.

History

The Gulf of Aqaba is Jordan’s only maritime outlet to the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, with Jordan owning only 27 km of the total 160 km of coastline. Despite the limited coastline, it experiences intense economic and tourist activity. Environmental expert emphasizes the importance of protecting part of this coastline due to the presence of various marine species. The establishment of the marine reserve is an opportunity to include it within the important environmental areas recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, reflecting Jordan's commitment to international agreements for the protection of marine environments.

Design

The marine reserve spans an area of 2.45 square kilometers with a coastline of 7 km out of the total 27 km, covering approximately 2.6% of Jordan’s marine area. It extends 350 meters from the shore towards the sea and 50 meters towards the land. The reserve includes 157 species of hard corals, 15 unique species, 18 genera of algae, 3 types of seagrass, 507 species of fish, and 3 species of turtles, including the

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution that is largel ...

. The reserve also contains two endangered species of giant clams, 72 species of sponges, and 645 species of mollusks. The reserve is considered one of the most biologically diverse areas in the region, featuring scattered coral reefs close to the shore that extend over a distance of 13 km.

References

{{Coord, 29, 25, 50, N, 34, 58, 19, E, source:wikidata, display=title Red Sea Aqaba Governorate Marine reserves