Socotra cormorant  (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis)

The relatively large but extremely restricted population of Socotra cormorants is primarily threatened by the fast pace of coastal development on its breeding islands for residential and tourist use, which is disturbing and displacing many colonies (2) (6). Human disturbance can cause parents to abandon their eggs and chicks, leaving them vulnerable and exposed to wide-scale predation by gulls (2). This bird’s already threatened status is exacerbated by marine oil spills; the Socotra cormorant is probably the most commonly found oiled dead bird around the Bahrain coastline (5). Fisheries also pose a possible threat through reducing the species’ food availability. Additional potential threats include introduced predators on breeding islands, the harvesting of chicks for food, persecution and ectoparasites (2).

The Socotra cormorant is legally protected across most of its range. In addition, some breeding sites, such as the colonies on the islands of Marawah and Al Yasat in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, have been specifically protected (2) (7) (8). Nevertheless, the sites of several more colonies desperately require the same protected status (2). In 2004, Dubai Zoo was the first institution in the world to successfully breed this rare bird in captivity. The objective was to release the chicks a year later at a pond in one of the city's parks where they would initially be fed with fish, with the hope that they would later fly towards the nearby Gulf waters to live in the wild (6). If successful, captive breeding and reintroduction programmes may be a viable conservation measure in the future if numbers in the wild should fall too low. Hopefully, however, it will never reach that stage. The Socotra cormorant is undoubtedly one of the treasures of the beautiful desert islands off the Arabian Peninsula, which are home to a rich array of unique wildlife, and as such are surely worthy of international recognition and greater protection (5).