INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON WETLANDS AND SUSTAINABILITY 2007

THE ZONATION AND EVALUATION OF ECOLOGICAL SENSITIVITINESS OF

COASTAL AREAS AND WETLANDS OF QESHM ISLAND IN THE PERSIAN
GULF
Masomeh Roozbehi,* S.M. Reza Fatemi#

Abstract

The zonation of coastal areas in order to determine the degree of their sensitivities
and then classify them as marine protected areas is rather a new approach in the
world and a few countries have carried out this approach for their coastal areas.
Similarly, this has not been tackled with in Iran as well; therefore, the aim of this
paper is to provide some information on the first attempt made in this regard in the
country.
The designated area is Qeshm Island. It is Iran's largest and the Persian Gulf's
largest island, with an area of over 500 mi² (1295 km²) and is almost 109 kilometers
long. Qeshm Island is also a free trade zone, which has made the island very
important due to international trade. Qeshm Island is famous for its wide range of
ecotourist attractions such as the Hara (mangrove forest) marine forests. According
to environmentalists, about 1.5% of the world birds and 25% of Iran's native birds
annually migrate to Hara forests and its widespread intertidal zones. Also, its sandy
beaches are the nesting grounds for the largest population of loggerhead sea turtles
coming to the beach every year for laying eggs. The first national geo park is also in
this island.
Because of its ecological importance, it was selected for the coastal zonation
purposes. In doing so, 15 main criteria and 26 sub criteria were chosen for the
evaluation on the basis of national and UNEP,s grading. The range of each criterion
was between zeros to 5, the latter the highest mark. The whole coastal areas were
surveyed and all biological and ecological features were recorded as well as the
bottom type and sediments. The coastal zone was defined as the intertidal zone and
also supra tidal to cover the turtle nesting grounds. All data were fed into a database
and then were plotted onto a satellite image to specify all different habitats and
zones.

* MSc Candidate, Faculty of Marine Science & technology, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Hesarak, Tehran, Iran.
#
Head of Marine Biology Dept., Faculty of Marine Science & technology, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Hesarak, Tehran, Iran.
 INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON WETLANDS AND SUSTAINABILITY 2007

Using the specified ecological and zonation criteria, the degree of sensitivity for each
area were evaluated and determined. Accordingly, one area (turtle nesting grounds)
was specified as to be Protected Area, one as a Hunting Prohibited Area and almost
the rest as sensitive areas. This clearly shows that coastal areas and wetlands are
ecologically very important and should be managed properly and wise.

Keywords:

* MSc Candidate, Faculty of Marine Science & technology, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Hesarak, Tehran, Iran.
#
Head of Marine Biology Dept., Faculty of Marine Science & technology, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Hesarak, Tehran, Iran.