Cintra Bay

Cintra Bay or the Gulf of Cintra is a large bay on the coast of Western Sahara. It is located about 120 km south of Dakhla region and its coastline is scarcely populated and thus keeping wild environment on today.

Natural History

Its coastline and surrounding areas are parts of western Sahara Desert, being covered mostly by dunes and making Cintra bay's vegetations very poor.

Contrasts to land, waters in this area are parts of the Canary Current System, a highly productive ocean current and the Nouadhibou Upwelling, one of major upwelling zones locates just off the continent shelf. This makes the area one of the richest grounds for fishery in the world.

marine mammals

Based on 19th-century whaling records, the bay is the only known location where the eastern North Atlantic population of North Atlantic right whales ever used as a wintering or calving ground historically. These whales are now thought to be either extinct or in the low-tens of animals left.^[1] In the 18th and 19th century, the Cintra Bay Ground was one of three or four major grounds for right whale hunting in the North Atlantic along with the south-eastern coastal United States, Cape Farewell in Greenland, and probably the Icelandic region and also being one of two winter-spring fields along with the US coasts.^[2] A total of approximately 92 whales and some more were killed during 44 visits by whalers from November to April, giving this region the highest catch density in 19th century, though whaling was not carried out during all seasons where 92 of those animals were actually taken in the first two years of 1855-56. A scientific survey throughout the coasts extending to Dakhla peninsula/bay was conducted in 1998 and no evidence of any right whales still using the area was found.^[3] It was also found that these coastal waters were surprisingly poor in cetacean biodiversity, only two species were found regularly but within very small numbers and both were found only in the Dakhla Bay region: larger type of Bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic humpback dolphins. Killer whales are known to occur along coasts of Western Sahara today^[4] and occasionally in large numbers in the past days according to whaling logs along with blackfish, the Pilot Whales.

Along with cetaceans, Cintra Bay provides an important habitat for critically endangered Mediterranean Monk Seals.^[5] They were severely hunted to the brink of extinction especially in 15th century by European sealers and local tribes and are now almost extinct in the Mediterranean Sea.

sea reptiles

Sea turtles are known to nest on the beach along the bay.

birds

Many species of migratory birds and oceanic birds such as Western Palearctic waders inhabit for wintering on West Sahara´s coastline and more notably in the Cintra Bay region and the Banc d'Arguin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mauritania where nearly 110species of sea birds are confirmed.^[6]

Settlements

The area is very remoted and almost unpopulated as only several small fishing settlements of shacks are scattered along the coast. Of these, Puntillas de las Raimas which is at the northern end of the bay is the largest.

The closest urban city is at Dakhla, approximately 120 km away from Cintra Bay.

See also

• North Atlantic Right Whale

References

External links