Despite the important role of marine mammals in marine ecosystems and the imperative for their conservation, there is still a great lack of information on the diversity, distribution, and density of these animals in the Saudi waters of the Arabian Gulf. To fill this gap, an integrative data-collection approach including fishermen’s questionnaires, opportunistic sighting reports, and directed boat-based surveys, was undertaken between 2016 and 2020, leading to the first scientific report of marine mammal diversity, distribution, and density in the region. The results of the different approaches carried out during the study confirmed a high diversity of cetaceans on the west coast of the study area, with bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea) and dugongs (Dugong dugon) as the most common species. While the two dolphin species were found to be widely distributed in both coastal and offshore waters, D. dugon appears to occur exclusively in coastal waters in the southern part of the study area, mainly in the Gulf of Salwah. The presence of both species of dolphins increased during the summer months and in the vicinity of the numerous oil and gas facilities in this region. The distribution of the observed dolphins was found mostly within a 10-20 km radius around each facility. Other cetacean species observed less frequently in the area include Bryde's whale (Balaenoptera edeni), killer whale (Orcinus orca), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides). Regarding the density of marine mammals in the region, boat-based surveys confirmed the results of fishermen's questionnaires and reports of opportunistic sightings, with bottlenose and humpback dolphins being the most abundant species. These results provide a baseline for policies oriented to the conservation of mammals in the Saudi waters of the Arabian Gulf.

中文翻译：

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阿拉伯湾沙特水域沿岸海洋哺乳动物的多样性、分布和密度：多方法方法的更新

尽管海洋哺乳动物在海洋生态系统中发挥着重要作用，并且对其保护势在必行，但仍然缺乏关于阿拉伯湾沙特水域这些动物的多样性、分布和密度的信息。为了填补这一空白，2016 年至 2020 年间采用了包括渔民问卷调查、机会主义目击报告和定向船基调查在内的综合数据收集方法，从而产生了第一份关于海洋哺乳动物多样性、分布和密度的科学报告。地区。研究期间进行的不同方法的结果证实了研究区西海岸的鲸类动物的高度多样性，其中最常见的是宽吻海豚 (Tursiops aduncus)、座头海豚 (Sousa plumbea) 和儒艮 (Dugong dugon)物种。虽然发现这两种海豚广泛分布在沿海和近海水域，但 D. dugon 似乎只出现在研究区南部的沿海水域，主要是在萨尔瓦湾。在夏季和该地区众多石油和天然气设施附近，这两种海豚的出现都增加了。观察到的海豚的分布主要在每个设施周围 10-20 公里半径内。在该地区较少观察到的其他鲸类物种包括布氏鲸 (Balaenoptera edeni)、虎鲸 (Orcinus orca)、普通海豚 (Delphinus delphis) 和江豚 (Neophocaena phocaenoides)。关于该地区海洋哺乳动物的密度，船基调查证实了渔民的调查结果。调查问卷和机会性目击报告，宽吻海豚和座头海豚是最丰富的物种。这些结果为旨在保护阿拉伯湾沙特水域哺乳动物的政策提供了基线。