true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN REGION

Daymaniyat Islands ISRA

12/125

Daymaniyat Islands ISRA

Daymaniyat Islands

Summary

Daymaniyat Islands is an archipelago located in the Muscat Governorate, Oman. This area is composed of nine islands and is characterised by hard and soft corals and rocky and sandy areas. Fish spawning events occur in the summer when upwelling produces phytoplankton blooms. The area overlaps one protected area, one Key Biodiversity Area, and one Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area. Within the area there are: threatened species and undefined aggregations (Whale Shark Rhincodon typus).

Daymaniyat Islands

Daymaniyat Islands

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Daymaniyat Islands is an archipelago located in the Muscat Governorate, Oman. This archipelago is composed of nine islands and lies ~18 km off the coast of Barka and ~70 km west of Muscat (Sheppard & Salm 1988). The area is highly productive and host to a dense coverage and diversity of hard and soft corals, especially in areas >10 m depth that host seasonal fish spawning events during the boreal summer (Sheppard & Salm 1988). In addition to coral reefs, the area is characterised by rocky and sandy areas. Cool water advected to the area in summer produces upwelling events and phytoplankton blooms (McIlwain et al. 2011). Maximum sea surface temperatures (~32°C) occur in May, while minimum (~22°C) occur in February (AlBusaidi & Al-Hashmi 2023).

The area overlaps with the Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve, the Daymaniyat Islands Key Biodiversity Area (KBA 2023), and the Daymaniyat Islands Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area (EBSA; CBD 2023).

This Important Shark and Ray Area is benthopelagic and is delineated from inshore and surface waters (0 m) to 60 m based on the bathymetry of the area.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

The one Qualifying Species within the area is considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. The Whale Shark is assessed as Endangered (Pierce & Norman 2016).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C5 – UNDEFINED AGGREGATIONS

Daymaniyat Islands is an important area for undefined aggregations of one shark species.

From records starting in 2004 (direct observations and citizen science), 137 individual Whale Sharks were identified in the Daymaniyat Islands. Aggregations of up to 40 individuals occur regularly and predictably between April and November, with a peak in September (Robinson et al. 2016; D Robinson unpubl. data. 2023). Most sightings were recorded at the ‘Junn’ and ‘Aquarium’ dive sites (19 encounters), followed by ‘Sira’ (9 encounters; Robinson et al. 2016). Kernel Density Analysis of satellite tracked Whale Sharks tagged off Qatar indicated the Daymaniyat Islands were the third-most used area in the Persian/Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman area (Robinson et al. 2016). Aggregations of this species may be related to feeding on seasonal fish spawn during summer, but more evidence is needed to fully understand the nature and function of these aggregations.

Daymaniyat Islands

SUBMIT A REQUEST

ISRA SPATIAL LAYER REQUEST

To make a request to download the ISRA Layer in either a GIS compatible Shapefile (.shp) or Google Earth compatible Keyhole Markup Language Zipped file (.kmz) please complete the following form. We will review your request and send the download details to you. We will endeavor to send you the requested files as soon as we can. However, please note that this is not an automated process, and before requests are responded to, they undergo internal review and authorization. As such, requests normally take 5–10 working days to process.

Should you have questions about the data or process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    * indicates required

    Industry or sector (*)

    Under the terms and conditions of our User License Agreement , full and appropriate acknowledgement is required in any materials and publications derived from the data (and copies should be sent to the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group through the contact form). For any publications making substantial use of the data, the ISRA welcomes the opportunity for co-authorship, collaboration, and to comment prior to publication.


    Furthermore, we need to know whether you are a commercial or non-commercial user. Non-commercial includes scientific research, education or conservation. Commercial is defined as follows: any use by, on behalf of, or to inform or assist the activities of a commercial entity (that operates ‘for profit’) or use by a non-profit for the purposes of revenue generation

    Type of use(*):

    Please specify which layer (ex. all layers, layers within a specific Region, layers within a Jurisdiction or a single ISRA): Purpose (*):

    Please provide a description of how you intend to use the ISRA GIS Dataset. The more details you provide, the faster we can respond to your request. We may require further clarification prior to providing access. (min. 100 characters – max 1,000 characters)



    File format request (*)

    By providing your personal data, you consent to its processing as described below. The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group will use the information you provide on this form to send the documents you requested. You can change your mind at any time by writing to the ISRA Data Coordinator www.sharkrayareas.org/contact. All personal details provided will be treated with respect. For any information you can visit our Privacy Policy.
    Please read the User License Agreement and ISRA Layer Metadata Description

    This form uses Google reCaptcha to reduce spam. Privacy - Terms