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The coastal ecosystems of the northwestern Arabian Gulf mostly consist of low lying tidal flats backed by hyper saline marsh (sabkha) and desert. As populations increased, much of this coast has been subject to infill and seaward extension for housing, recreation and industrial development. This has led to degradation of the highly productive intertidal and shallow subtidal marine ecosystems upon which fisheries depend. Further degradation can be expected with future sea level rise, as high evaporation rates will induce hyper saline conditions.

Rather than building out into the sea using dredging and infill, an alternative approach is to construct cities on land, safely above future high water levels, by excavating saline desert of low productivity to create marine waterways. Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City in Kuwait was first connected to the sea in 2004 and, with 3 phases completed, now has 84 km of shoreline in the desert. The waterway system was modeled before excavation and relies solely upon tides and wind for seawater circulation. To date seawater quality has been excellent, meeting all criteria demanded by the Environment Public Authority.

Within the waterways, a full range of man-made marine habitats have been created. These include intertidal beaches, tidal flats, mangrove and salt marshes on islands, together with subtidal sand and rock benthic habitats. These have been monitored with daily physical and annual biological surveys. Importantly, this data provides new information on the natural colonization rates and development of Gulf soft substrate intertidal and subtidal marine communities. Within 5 years of opening to the sea, all artificially created marine habitats have a species richness and abundance close to, or exceeding, that of similar open sea natural habitats in Kuwait. Over 1000 species of macrobiota now exist within the desert waterways including 100 species of fish and shellfish. Present work describes the development of these marine communities and provides a baseline for recruitment rates of Gulf marine fauna into non-polluted habitats.