Libyan Sea - Existing Protected Areas

There are two important coastal lagoons protected on the Lybian coast:

• The Natural Reserve of Farwa, a lagoon of 3200 ha separated from the sea by an 11km long narrow sand bar that also includes an island
• The Natural Reserve of Ain Gazala, a lagoon with a surface area of 180 ha, 6.5 km long and 1.5km wide including also 300 ha of salt marshes and Geziret Elba island.

• Garabulli National Park with 15000 ha (Marine and Terrestrial). With perennial water courses that feeds into a small saline lagoon. The site consists of rolling continental sand-dunes, with sandy beaches and rocky shores backed by low, eroded sandstone cliffs.
• Kouf National Park with 32,000 ha (Marine and Terrestrial) and 20km of coastline, including the catchments of Wade el Kouf, beaches, rocky cliffs, sand dunes and seasonally inundated lagoons
• The Natural Reserve of Benghazi of 50 ha. The site includes the Ayn Zayanah lagoon and a stretch of coastal shoreline, with dunes and salt marshes.

Most of the coastal wetlands of the Lybia Sea are under protection by International and National regulations:

• Ain Elshakika made of hyper saline coastal Sebekha with limestone rock formations from the south, dunes and mud flats with extensive shrubs from the west to the east, 33 ha (Ramsar Site)
• Ain Elzarga with hypersaline coastal lagoon with mudflats and saltmarshes, 50ha (Ramsar Site)