الفهرس 
CHAPTER 1Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region are geographically located between two important ocean domains, namely, the Indian Ocean domain and the Atlantic Ocean domain through the Mediterranean Sea. This location gives this region a very important and strategic situation as an ocean gateway, and makes it particularly interesting scientifically and environmentally, as well as politically, socially and economically. However, it also adds tremendous pressures on its fragile environment. The region is considered as arid, with low rainfall in the form of showers of short duration, often associated with thunderstorms and occasionally with dust storms.
Different habitats such as mangroves with significant importance for animals (including migratory species) and many uses to man, sea grasses, and coral reef territories are fairly widespread within the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden region.
The Gulf of Aden presents a unique ecosystem that deserves scientific attention. In addition to its extraordinary biotic richness, the Gulf of Aden also serves as the highway for international trade between east and west. At present, approximately 3 million barrels of oil is being transported daily through the Gulf of Aden. Traditionally, the Gulf of Aden had provided considerable amount of sea food for the inhabitants of the surrounding arid lands. It will continue to do so in future also if the fisheries are developed using modern scientific knowledge and techniques.
1.2. Area of Study
The area of study is shown in Figure 1.1.
The Gulf of Aden is an elongated stretch of water separating the African continent from the Asian continent (Figure 1.1). It is located approximately between the latitudes10–15 ̊ N and longitudes 43–52 ̊E. On its western end it joins the Red Sea, that produces one of the most saline water masses in the world oceans, and in the east it is joined with the Arabian Sea (the Indian Ocean). In effect, the Gulf of Aden acts as the passage for the Red Sea water before it enters the Indian Ocean. The physical boundaries of the Gulf of Aden can be fixed approximately at the narrow Strait of Bab el Mandab in the west up to a line connecting Ras Fartak (east of Mukalla, Yemen) in the north and Ras Asir (northern corner of the Somali Peninsula) in the south. The northern and southern boundaries are well constrained with the land masses of Yemen and Djibouti-Somalia respectively
The Gulf of Aden is a young ocean basin formed by the rifting of Asia (Arabia) from Africa (Somalia) [Girdler et al., 1980]. It has a well-defined continental margin, small oceanic.