The Bay of Haifa or Haifa Bay (, ''Mifratz Heifa''), formerly Bay of Acre, is a bay along the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast of Northern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Haifa Bay is Israel's only

natural harbor A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

on the Mediterranean. ''Haifa Bay'' also refers one of Haifa's nine quarters, covering the overwhelmingly industrial area northeast of Downtown and south of Kiryat Hayim.

Geography

Fed by the

Kishon River The Kishon River (, ; , – ''the intermittent river''; alternative Arabic, ) is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Haifa. Course The Kishon River is a perennial stream in Israel. Its furthest source is t ...

, the cities of

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

and

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

mark its southern and northern capes, while its centre is lined with

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s and the suburban Krayot neighbourhoods.

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

rises from the southern edge, while the mountains of the Western Galilee run up to the shore at the northern boundary. The Zvulun Valley, a coastal plain, runs 14 km along the coast of the bay between these mountainous boundaries. According to paleogeographic studies, 3,000 to 3,500 years ago Haifa Bay was larger and extended as far as the area of present-day Kibbutz Yagur. The

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

was wider, and as a result of sand deposition from the sea and sediment carried by the river, the estuary became covered, causing the coastline to shift to its current location. The Port of Haifa lies along part of its southeastern coastline.

History

In the 1920s, several

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

im were established in the Bat Galim neighborhood on Haifa Bay in the wake of British Mandatory budgeting for development of the area. With the coast of Palestine lacking a modern harbor, the British authorities drew up plans for new port facilities. The Haifa Bay Development Company, founded in February 1925 to further these plans, could not recruit the necessary capital, so the transaction was made by the Palestine Land Development Company. The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the Sursock Purchase. The land was purchased from the Sursock family, which had bought it from the Ottoman government in 1872. The 45,000

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

tract was known as the Jidro lands. The company also acquired a 99-year concession for an additional 12,000 dunams of adjoining land, bringing the total area to 57,000. The land changed hands several times due to financial difficulties, eventually becoming the property of the Bayside Land Company, established in cooperation with the Jewish National Fund. In 1928, the company commissioned

Patrick Abercrombie Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie ( ; 6 June 1879 – 23 March 1957) was an English architect, urban designer and town planner. Abercrombie was an academic during most of his career, and prepared one city plan and several regional studies prior ...

to draw up a development plan. In 1934, the Phoenicia glass factory was established in Haifa Bay. The company moved to

Yeruham Yeruham () is a local council (Israel), town in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel, in the Negev desert. It covers , and had a population of in . It is named after the Hebrew Bible, Biblical Jeroham. Until early 2011 th ...

in 1968, and is still operating today.

Ports and industrial zone

The Port of Haifa and a private port operated by

Israel Shipyards Israel Shipyards is a large shipbuilding and repair facilities in the eastern Mediterranean. The company also operates a privately owned port in Israel. The company's facilities are located at the Kishon Port (part of the Port of Haifa complex) ...

are located in Haifa Bay. In 2017 they handled a combined total of 32 million tons of cargo, making the port complex one of the largest in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Bay region is also home to an extensive industrial zone containing various factories, workshops, large shore-based oil refineries, chemical, metals fabrication and power plants and other industrial and storage facilities. The 76-meter high twin

cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream, to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove heat and cool the ...

s of the Haifa oil refinery are a nationally recognized icon for the city. For this reason, they have been left intact, though they are no longer actually used since technological advancements in refining have made them obsolete.

Environmental concerns

Historically the concentration of industry in the area has also led to pollution of the air and the bay, and a higher incidence of cancer in the surrounding communities. In response, since the late 2000s the Israeli Environment Protection ministry, in conjunction with area industries, has implemented a comprehensive pollution reduction, monitoring and reporting programme for the region. This effort, together with the practice by major plants in the region of switching from using heavy fuels to

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

as their primary fuel source, starting in 2013, has led to a significant reduction in air pollution. The ministry estimates that between 2009 and 2014 overall air pollution in the Bay area has been reduced by 70%, although the overall concentration of heavy industry in the area means that air pollution is still higher as compared with other regions in Israel.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 32, 49, 23.01, N, 35, 1, 26.04, E, display=title Regions of Israel Bays of the Mediterranean Bodies of water of Israel Geography of Haifa Economy of Haifa History of Haifa