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ISRA FACTSHEETS

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN REGION

El Ikhwa Islands ISRA

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El Ikhwa Islands ISRA

El Ikhwa Islands

Summary

El Ikhwa Islands consists of two offshore islands (individually known as Big- and Little-Brother) found ~70 km off the Red Sea coast of Egypt. They are characterised by shallow flats, deep plateaus, reef walls, and open waters. El Ikhwa Islands is a marine protectorate. Within this area there are: threatened species and undefined aggregations (Oceanic Whitetip Shark Carcharhinus longimanus).

El Ikhwa Islands

El Ikhwa Islands

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

El Ikhwa Islands consists of a pair of offshore islands (named Big- and Little- Brother) surrounded by deep water. The islands are located ~67 km from shore, and ~1 km from each other (MDUP 2018). This area includes shallow flats, deep plateaus, reef walls, and open waters (E Bojanowski pers. obs. 2023).

El Ikhwa Islands is a marine protectorate, a preserve of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency.

This Important Shark and Ray Area is pelagic and extends from inshore and surface waters (0 m) to 200 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 Oceanic Whitetip Shark is assessed as Critically Endangered (Rigby et al. 2019).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C5 – UNDEFINED AGGREGATIONS

El Ikhwa Islands is important for undefined aggregations of one shark species.

Oceanic Whitetip Sharks are regularly and predictably observed in aggregations of up to 25 individuals at El Ikhwa Islands (E Bojanowski unpubl. data 2023). This area has the second largest known aggregations of Oceanic Whitetip Sharks in the Red Sea (the largest area is also in Egyptian waters). The high abundances of Oceanic Whitetip Sharks at this Egyptian site have been documented for more than 15 years (2003–2019) (E Bojanowski unpubl. data 2023) with 469 individuals (163 males, 214 females, and 92 undefined sex) identified at El Ikhwa Islands. Encounter rates peak in October and November. Further information is required to define the nature and function of these aggregations.

El Ikhwa Islands

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