Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City is a city in Ahmadi, Kuwait built with canals forming of artificial shoreline. The city houses up to 250,000 residents. The city was inaugurated in mid 2016. The

artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...

s that make up the area are unusual because they were built excavating large channels in desert land rather than using

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...

. The city is considered a pioneering project in the region due to its environmentally sustainable construction techniques. The first phase of the project was opened to the sea in 2004. The multi-billion dollar development is within a 25-year construction period with ten phases. Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City is the first urban area in Kuwait built entirely by the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

Wildlife

Recent reports demonstrate that

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...

and finfish fisheries are in serious decline, in particular those of

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. This decline is attributed to over fishing, pollution, loss of nursery ground, reduction in riverine input via the Shatt Al-Arab, and climate change. When completed in 2018, Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City,

, will contain of waterways providing over 50% of extra coast line for

. Seine netting and gargoor traps have been deployed annually, since the first phase (A1) of this coastal township was opened to the sea in 2004, to monitor Shell and Fin fish populations within the waterways. Present work describes the diversity and abundance of commercial (edible and potential ornamental value) species now inhabiting the waterways, which comprise over 60% of the species marketed in

. Analysis of catch data reveals that the waterways act as spawning, nursery and feeding habitats for important species such as

Epinephelus coioides The orange-spotted grouper (''Epinephelus coioides''), also known as the brown-spotted rockcod, estuary cod, estuary rockcod, goldspotted rockcod, greasy cod, North-west groper, orange spotted cod or blue-and-yellow grouper, is a species of marin ...

(Orange-Spotted Grouper), Penaeus semisulcatus (Banana Shrimp) and Portunus segnis (Blue Swimming Crab). As no commercial fishing is allowed, the Sea City waterways act as a significant conservation area for Kuwait's fish stocks.

Environmental impact

The environmental impact of the development, from the standpoint of marine life, has been seen as positive and sustainable. According to studies of the development:

Gallery

Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - A3 Aerial Shot2.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Beach sand.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase 4 Lagoon.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A2 Aerial Shot.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A2 and Phase A3.jpg Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A2 Break Water.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A2.jpg Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A3 Aerial Shot.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A3 Lagoon 1.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A3 Lagoon.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A3.jpg Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City - Phase A4.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City Aerial Shot.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City Aerial Shot1.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City Aerial Shot2.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City Lagoon and Groyne.JPG Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City Satellite Image.jpg

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.saasc.com/
Discovery Channel documentary
Port cities and towns in Kuwait Port cities and towns of the Persian Gulf Artificial islands

Wildlife

Environmental impact

Gallery

See also

References

External links