The cumulative impacts of reclamation

and dredging on the marine ecology

and land-use in the Kingdom of

Bahrain

Introduction
The Kingdom of Bahrain is located in the Arabian Gulf and is an archipelago surrounded by
shallow water and this water is usually highly salty. The Arabian Gulf embraces a number of
coastal ecosystems that are important for the conservation of marine organisms. However, many
economic and social developments emerged, as well as the discovery of oil, which led to a
significant decline in the ecological systems (Linden et al., 1990; Sheppard et al., 1992). In
addition to the increase in population and economic development density, Bahrain suffers from
geographical restrictions on its territory.
Northern and eastern coastal areas of Bahrain have been subject to land dredging and
reclamation activities during the past two decades. Since most of the waters surrounding Bahrain
are shallow, this will help to speed up burial and dredging operations at the lowest cost (Al-
Madany and Al-Sayed, 2001).In recent years, many issues have arisen to reduce environmental
problems, along with recognition of the need for effective coastal zone management to regulate
the use of marine resources.
Some studies were conducted to find out the impact of drilling and coastal dredging work in
Bahrain. Therefore, the results of the first study expected the loss of ecosystems that include
many living organisms, due to land reclamation operations. The second study was conducted by
the remote sensing system was used to observe any changes in the size and nature of
environments over time, and the causes for these changes are related to reclamation activities. In
the last study, a complete review of the environmental problems resulting from land reclamation
and dredging in the Arabian Gulf was conducted. (Ahmed et al., 1998; Al-Duaij and Maber,
2008; Linden et al., 1990).
The study aims to know the effects and problems resulting from coastal reclamation and
dredging operations, as well as how the use of coastal lands affects vital habitats. To conserve
the marine environment, the investigation is currently assessing environmental and economic,
and land use issues.
Materials and Methods
Total reclamation size around the coastal areas were obtained according to Environmental impact
assessment (EIA) reports during 2002-2008. In addition, the geographic Information system
(GIS) maps and topographic maps were used during the years 1963- 2004 to produce the
geographic features of Bahrain with a scale of 1:50,000. Additional maps were used to illustrates
the locations (coordinates) of borrow areas using Global Positioning System (GPS).
The shoreline of 2006 and 2007 were provided by Geographical Information System for Marine
Technology (GEOMATEC) and imported from MARGIS dataset. These data were re-projected
to the standard projection defined by the Universal Transverse Mercator, UTM Zone 39 North
Hemisphere –World Geodetic System WGS 1984 projected coordinate system. The location
error was found to be 0.45 m. Borrow areas were described by GPS data in form of tables
associated with reports of General Directorate for Protection of the Marine Resources. Some data
were described geographically (using longitude and latitude) and others were described using the
UTM/ WGS. Finally, data was converted to ESRI shape-file GIS format.
The lost marine habitats and reclaimed areas identified using Union Overlay. The present study
focuses on three locations namely, Tubli bay, Muharraq and the Northern coast of Bahrain. A
number of species including keystone species were identified. The average global annual
ecosystem services based on Costanza et al. (1989, 1997) has been utilized in the estimation for
the opportunity cost associated with the damage to the marine and coastal resources.
Results
This study reported a total of 13.6% increase in Bahrain original land from the year 1963 until
2008 as it increase from 667.88 km2 to 759 km2. The investigation of last few decades reported
91km2 of reclaimed coastal areas and a higher increase during the years from 1996 until 2007
that recorded a reclamation of 21km2 /year. The main cause of rapid land reclamation is the
increasing of demands for lands; thus, reclaimed areas were distributed into roads (23.2%),
agriculture (21.4%), industrial areas (14%), parks and green areas (17%).
The effect of land reclamation on the marine habitats were traced according to Vousden mapping
in 1986. As a result of 10 reclamation and dredging projects; a total of 153.58 km2 loss were
recorded for major habitats (seagrass, algal beds, rocks and corals) with harmful decrease in
associated organisms such as rabbit fish, dugongs and the green turtles.
Valuation Estimates
The valuation estimates that the commodities and service index have an annual increase by an
average of 3% and inflation rate by 2%. Therefore, 5% adjustment rate were applied to obtain the
presented prices of 1994 to one US dollars. The results of 1994 were obtained to follow the
adjustment according to US market prices per hectare and it founds as US$8023. However, this
value is used to calculate the current value according to Bahrain market prices per hectare and
founds as US$5375.4. This value obtained by multiple equations using the PPP-GNP data of
Bahrain and US from the World Bank Statistics in 2004. The ecological damage by obtaining the
present value of these services according to the US market prices and considering the reclaimed
coastal area equals to 91 km2 gives a total coast loss of US$49 million. The estimated coast
value is missing some of the ecosystem goods and services which may include free-charged
important and coasty materials. The total affected area in general contains those for the 10
selected reclamation projects; therefore, it counted as 153 km2. However, indirect effects can be
found as a result of Sedimentation plumes.
Discussion
In general, marine sand that has been drilling by excavators is used for the reclamation of large
projects. There are different methods used to provide this sand, in most common methods
excavators are used to create a large depth by removing marine sediments, and another method is
to pump sand through a pipeline to the ship or to an area near the shore. An environmentally
friendly method is to place the dredged material in the reclamation area or sometimes it is
discharged into open areas. Therefore, the methods and tools used should help reduce damage to
marine habitats, as well as control the distribution of materials in the reclaimed area.
: Presence or absence of a key species affects their community because of its great importance
therefore, this could be used as an indicator of the level of stress on the environment ,as example
the shrimp(paenidae) is consider as key species in north Bahrain therefore ,the decrease in
shrimp numbers leads to decrease presence of other species that are affected by the presence of
shrimp like Arthropoda , The ecological effects of dredging and coastal reclamation in- clude
both direct or indirect effects(price et al., 1986) ,for that the careful selection of reclamation
areas avoiding ecologically sensitive areas is a significant mitigation measure from affecting on
the key species.
As example Tubli bay is important for the shrimp fishery(Al-Madany and khlaf, 2000). but is
now not permitted because it has exposures to the reclamation and this lead to destroyed most of
the mangroves and permanent damage on the sea bed occurred, in addition to that the Sewage
outfall in the bay has an negatively affect at the water , physical disturbance and causes
eutrophication and oxygen depletion at marine species and in presence of them as the different
fishing methods were shown, but not all marine animals Can be monitored by this methods
because some spend part of their life stages buried in the sediment before moving into the reef
environment and this effect on the scientific data . In general, the amount of the available data is
limited to support a non-market valuation for the lost habitats therefore, the adjusted benefit
value approach has been adopted. The total ecological value for a coastal ecosystem was $4052
ha/yr according to Costanza et al. (1997). This value was distributed among different sub-ecosys-
tems.Bahrain has developed an EIA system relatively recently (Donel- ly et al., 1998) and this
system work by collecting data about the environment than use it to look for suitable locations
for the project’s.
The study endeavors to cover the issues that the marine environment face due to reclamation of
land from the sea, because of increased demand for lands.

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