BOOK REVIEWS 3

Status of Coastal and Marine Habitats

Two Years after the Gulf War Oil Spill.

by Abdulaziz H. Abuzinada and Friedhelm Krupp (eds.)

The Arabian Gulf embraces a wide range of coastal and marine habitats,

in-cluding coral reefs, seagrass beds, salt marshes and man-grove stands.

The area supports large populations of resi-dential, wintering and breeding

birds.

During the Gulf War the region’s rich, and in many respects unique,

wildlife was suddenly put at risk by the largest oil spill in human history.

An oil spill of this size has never been tackled before and international

cooperation in the field of wildlife conservation became indispensable.

Since October 1991, an international, multidisciplinary team of Saudi Arabia

and European scientists has been assessing the ecological consequences

of the Gulf War oil spill. The ultimate aim of this joint project of the

National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development, Riyadh,

and the European Commission, Brussels, is the restoration of the area to

pre-war ecological conditions and the establishment of the region’s first

Marine Habitat and Wildlife Sanctuary.

This volume presents first results of the largest continuous research

project on the ecological effects of the Gulf War oil spill. A general

introduction to the Arabian Gulf environment and the consequences of the

1991 oil spill is followed by 12 articles on the effects of the war on

coastal areas and biological communities such as blue-green algal mats,

macro algae and seagrass beds, intertidal flora and fauna including, crabs

and other marine invertebrates, coral reefs, fishes, birds and marine mammals.

Two years after the oil spill, it is obvious that there are no long term

effects on sub-tidal ecosystems. Seagrass beds, coral reefs, fish populations,

turtles and marine mammals are in a healthy condition. Much of the intertidal,

however, is still covered by tar. While at many of the sandy beaches and

rocky shores affected by the disaster there are clear signs of recolonisation

by plants and animals, salt marshes in sheltered bays show almost no sign

of recovery. The present study is a basis for further restoration measures

in the area.

Published as Volume 166 of Courier Forschungsinstitut

Whales

Published by Robert Baldwin.

As Arabia’s first book on whales and dolphins, this recent release will

undoubtedly surprise the majority of readers with its exciting revelations

of the tremendous abundance of cetacean life in the waters around Oman.

The authors have had the benefit of eight years of field research along

the entire coast of the Sultanate as part of a study by IUCN – the World

Conservation Union. Information has also been obtained from the Oman Natural

History Museum and its curator, Michael Gallagher MBE has written a foreword

to the book. Well illustrated with spectacular photographs and water-colours

by one of the field’s leading artists, Fraser May, the book encourages

readers to go out and watch the twenty species of whales and dolphins that

occur off Oman. Details on the lives of these remarkable marine mammals,

from humpback whales which may be the world’s only non-migrating population,

to the possibility of a shy and secretive dolphin new to science, together

with information on how and where to see Oman’s fascinating cetaceans constitutes

the bulk of the book. As Arabia’s only representative of the International

Whaling Commission, Mohamed Barwani of the Ministry of Agriculture and

Fisheries provided advice for the final chapter on whale and dolphin conservation

issues, both internationally, and within Oman.

This important new book also marks the commencement of a major research

study that has just begun in Oman, led by Mohammed Barwani and the book’s

author and publisher, Robert Baldwin. A blank record sheet invites interested

readers to submit information on any whale and dolphin sightings (both

live and dead). Research will cover all species, with particular focus

on coastal cetaceans and will be the largest single attempt at study of

the region’s whales and dolphins ever undertaken. Advice and assistance

will come from several Ministries within the Sultanate, as well as international

organisations such as IUCN, the World Conservation Union, the International

Whaling Commission, the International Federation for Animal Welfare and

several other institutions, including universities and research laboratories

in Hong Kong, South Africa and the U.K. The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)

has officially endorsed the project and will continue to play a role. As

well as carrying out valuable research, plans to establish a rapid response

network for stranded cetaceans are underway, for which a committee is being

established. One of the immediate aims is to create an enhanced awareness

of whales and dolphins in Oman and the rest of Arabia. The book makes a

valuable contribution to this process.

Important

compiled by M. I. Evans

This book is a tribute to all who have been associated with its production:

the publisher and co-ordinator of the project, BirdLife International;

its compiler Mike Evans; its supporting organisations of the Orni-thological

Society of the Middle East, the Inter-national Waterfowl and Wetlands Research

Bureau; its sponsor, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; all

of the countries that cooperated and last, which should perhaps have come

at the very top of the list, all the individual contributors whose field-records,

knowledge and assistance made the project possible. Given the immensity

of the task, and the fact that fourteen countries are covered, one must

also make glowing reference to the book’s editor, Duncan Brooks, and to

the design team who have created an attractive, practical book that clearly

achieves what it set out to achieve. Every aspect of the production progress

has been carefully considered, right down to the paper weight and binding.

Bird watchers, naturalists and conservationists living and working in

the Arabian countries will find this to be a most helpful reference book

and a good basis for planning conservation strategies. The fact that the

project has limited the term “important” to several clearly defined

criteria of international or species significance means that an element

of realism has been introduced which should greatly assist in making the

case for governments to effectively protect most, if not all, of the listed

areas. In many cases such protection is already in place, whilst in others

it may be under active consideration and the designation of an “Important

Bird Area in the Middle East” may help to achieve the protection that

BirdLife International and its associates so earnestly desire. Sadly however,

there are a few instances where important bird areas stand little hope

of protection and of course the most serious case in point is the southern

marsh lands of the Tigris-Euphrates delta which the Iraqi government has

continued to drain in the face of regional and international protests.

The book highlights this tragic situation in the following, well chosen

words: ” None of the sites in the inventory receive any form of legal

protection aimed at conservation of their biodiversity, and many of the

wetlands in particular are under critical threat, due to hydrological changes

associated with flood control, irrigation and drainage projects being carried

out in Iraq and neighbouring countries. This is nowhere more apparent than

in the marshlands of southern Iraq, particularly the Central Marshes, Haur

Al Hammar and Haur Al Hawizeh.

In contrast to this depressing report of apparent indifference to protection

of wildlife, one can happily cite the situation in other Arabian countries

such as Saudi Arabia where the work of the NCWCD is proving to be a positive

force in coordinating conservation issues and whose “System Plan for

Protected Areas outlines a logical rationale for the creation of a representative

system of effectively protected areas and defines procedures to proclaim

and properly manage these areas as reserves.” Pointing to the fact

that, “As a major landmass connecting Africa and Eurasia, Saudi Arabia

has a pivotal role in the lives of many migratory species, contains representative

populations from all these faunal regions, and additionally has a small

number of Arabian endemic species, mostly confined to the south-west”,

the book emphasises that the protective legislation already established,

or presently under review, will be an important element for the survival

of many species of birds, resident in, or passing through, Saudi Arabia.

Important Bird Areas of the Middle East is published

ONA, UK; fax 0223 277200; ISBN 0 946888 28 0.