Environmental Assessment of marine areas in Yemen, coral biodiversity and monitoring - 2005-2009 - TotalEnergies Yemen LNG

Sampling event Observation
Latest version published by TotalEnergies on May 21, 2025 TotalEnergies
Publication date:
May 21, 2025
Published by:
TotalEnergies
License:
CC-BY-NC 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 8 records in English (36 KB) - Update frequency: not planned
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Description

In 2005, Yemen LNG Company launched the construction of a large gas liquefaction plant and port facilities in Balhaf located in the South of Yemen, approximately 200 km west of Mukalla and 400 km east of Aden. Data on Balhaf are the final findings of the 4 years coral monitoring program conducted at Balhaf during the construction of the Yemen LNG plant between 2005 and 2009. The 2005 baseline survey data include inventory of fish species recorded all over Balhaf area during the survey. Seven particular areas of interest were identified during the baseline study in 2005 and were referenced since then as study stations during the coral monitoring operations performed between 2006 and 2009. Three additionales stations were then added to the 2006-2009 coral monitoring program. Therefore, the baseline gathers data from nine coral inventories : seven between september 2005 and november 2009 and three between november 2006 and november 2009. In Aden, Bir Ali, Burum, Al Mukallah and Balhaf, sampling of hard coral species (essentially Scleractinia), was carried out during SCUBA diving from approx. 1 m depth (Ras Bedo) to the limit of coral distribution between 6 and 32 m depth depending upon the station and the area. Non-destructive sampling of species was performed in order to obtain a species list per site as previously done for the Aden, Balhaf, Bir Ali, Burum, Al Mukallah and Kamaran areas. The observers recorded each species encountered during the dive on a slate and each species was photographed with an underwater digital camera in an Ikelite housing. Digital images were then analysed and species presence records cross-checked with the manual records. The lists obtained were used to produce a species per site matrix. In case of taxa which could not be readily identified underwater a specimen was collected and a preliminary identification based on skeleton macro-morphology was carried out. Destructive sampling was performed with hammer and chisel. For a number of selected problematic taxa, living tissues (approximately 1 cm2 of colony surface) was fixed in pure ethanol for further molecular analyses. In Bahalf, in 2005, investigations were devoted by scuba divers to assess fish and coral richness and biodiversity. The principle consisted in free exploration, establishing the most possible exhaustive list of coral and fish species encountered during a 1 hour dive in each site in the bathymetric range of coral presence (mainly between 9 and 2 m depth). Submarine photographs were taken during the scuba dives. All these observations were positioned using GPS measurements. During the 2006-2009 coral monitoring, the observer moves from the deepest to the shallowest limit of coral distribution (between 10 and 5 m and up to 70 cm deep in Balhaf). SCUBA diving and snorkelling observations can be combined in an area of approximately 100 m2 using the permanent LIT (Line intersept transect) lines for reference in order to relocate the same area for observations over time. In case of species which could not be readily identified during the dive, sampling of part of the colony was performed for further identifications. Each sampled fragment was catalogued and labeled, left overnight in household bleach, rinsed in fresh water and dried under the sun. Specimens were then analyzed under a Zeiss Stemi D4 stereomicroscope and skeletal microstructure investigated in order to identify them to the species level.

Data Records

The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 8 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Event (core)
8
Occurrence 
744

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

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Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is TotalEnergies. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: f2d276f4-a856-4f81-89a6-56e6e7d7c31e.  TotalEnergies publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF France.

Keywords

Samplingevent; Observation

Contacts

TotalEnergies Yemen LNG
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Affiliate
TotalEnergies
YE
Hannah Escoubet
  • Publisher ●
  • Point Of Contact
Steven Dickinson
  • Point Of Contact
TotalEnergies
FR

Geographic Coverage

The Gulf of Aden climate is dominated by the Indian Ocean monsoon system. From January to March the northeast (winter) monsoon forces surface waters to flow westwards towards the Red Sea. During the summer (south-west) monsoon, from May to September, the winds blow offshore and give rise to varying degrees of upwelling within the Gulf of Aden, during which cooler nutrient rich water rises from below to replace surface waters pushed offshore. Upwellings in the central and western Gulf of Aden are more geographically restricted than the massive upwelling in the eastern Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the east, and as a result the Gulf of Aden demonstrates a high degree of oceanographic variability, both temporally and spatially. This oceanographic difference, between the relatively oligotrophic waters to the west and the larger and more dominant upwelling to the east, gives rise to biogeographic patterns within the Gulf of Aden. The coastal upwelling is main explanation for the lower overall biodiversity in the Gulf of Aden. While some organisms are well adapted to the environmental conditions seasonally brought by the upwelling, others require more stable and typically “tropical” conditions throughout the year. Balhaf and Birali are positioned at the westernmost boundary of the strongest upwelling area and can experience the severe water temperature conditions and variations, as well as the strong turbidity brought by this natural phenomenon. Marine habitats of the region located between Balhaf and Mukalla in Yemen were studied as part of the "Coral Biodiversity Research Program" organized by Total and Creocean between 2008 and 2009. On six sites (Aden, Bir Ali, Burum, Al Mukallah, Socotra and Kamaran areas), "biodiversity studies" were carried out in order to produce detailed and taxonomically reliable inventories of the scleractinian coral fauna for the reefs of the southern coast of Yemen.

Bounding Coordinates South West [42.462, 12.645], North East [53.932, 15.524]

Additional Metadata

Alternative Identifiers f2d276f4-a856-4f81-89a6-56e6e7d7c31e
https://ipt.gbif.fr/resource?r=coral-biodiversity-and-monitoring-2005-2009-totalenergies-yemen