Ecological assessment of macrobenthic communities in Chabahar Bay, the Gulf of Oman

Aim: Assessing the potential of the Chabahar Bay coasts for classification as marine and coastal protected areas. Location: Chabahar Bay, northeast of the Gulf of Oman. Period: Two seasons from 2017 to 2019. Major taxa studied: Macrobenthic invertebrates. Methods: The evaluation was based on the 2008 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ecological model categories and criteria/sub-criteria. The study investigated criteria such as biodiversity, naturalness, dependency, representativeness, uniqueness, productivity, vulnerability, and integrity; the study was conducted at four zones of three stations within three regions. Results: The northern region of Chabahar Bay showed significant differences in community structure compared to the other two regions. The highest abundance of macrobenthic invertebrates was observed in the northern area of Chabahar Bay, whereas the lowest abundance was observed in Konarak. Macrobenthic abundance, salinity, and electrical conductivity (EC) were found to influence the community structure of macrobenthic organisms; each region was assigned a score, categorizing it as an IUCN Category II protected area. Main conclusions: The AMBI analysis revealed that some ecosystems in the studied regions were alarmingly disturbed, indicating the need for management attention to protect and conserve these ecosystems.