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| Dact-el-Mayun | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dact-el-Mayun |
| Location | Bab-el-Mandeb |
| Country | Yemen |
| Region | Horn of Africa |
Dact-el-Mayun is the western strait of the Bab-el-Mandeb connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean. It forms a critical maritime chokepoint between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, situated between Perim Island and the African coast near Djibouti and Somalia. The strait has long been significant for navigation, trade, strategic transit, and biodiversity, intersecting historical routes used by Phoenicians, Aksumite Empire, Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, British Empire, French Republic, and modern states.
The name derives from Arabic cartographic and nautical traditions tied to medieval and early modern maps produced in Cairo, Damascus, Aden, and Muscat. Terminology for the passage appears alongside designations used by Ibn Battuta, al-Idrisi, Marco Polo, and later James Cook-era charts. European hydrographers from Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, France, and United Kingdom standardized related names in Admiralty charts used by the Royal Navy, Dutch East India Company, and the Compagnie du Sénégal.
The strait lies adjacent to Perim Island and opposite continental points such as Cape Guardafui, Ras Asir, and coastal features near Tadjoura and Zeila. It demarcates maritime boundaries among Yemen, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia and forms part of international corridors including lanes used by vessels from Singapore, Dubai, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Shipping through the passage links pipelines and terminals such as those in Ras Tanura, Aden Refinery, and ports like Djibouti Port, Aden Port, Assab Port, and Berbera Port.
The region reflects complex tectonics involving the African Plate, Arabian Plate, and the Somali Plate with influences from the Red Sea Rift, Gulf of Aden Rift, and spreading centers documented by geophysicists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and Geological Survey of Ethiopia. Bathymetry shows channels and shoals mapped by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and French Hydrographic Office. Oceanographic processes link the strait to monsoon-driven currents studied by researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Salinity and temperature regimes connect to exchanges with the Suez Canal, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea impacting circulation described in work by Jacques-Yves Cousteau-era expeditions and contemporary surveys by Plymouth Marine Laboratory.
Maritime routes through the passage have been used since antiquity by mariners from Ancient Egypt, Phoenicia, Punt, and the Aksumite Kingdom and appear in logs of sailors employed by the Vasco da Gama expeditions, Christopher Columbus-era navigational schools, and the British East India Company. Control and surveillance were contested by Ottoman Navy, Portuguese Navy, Royal Navy, and later Cold War-era navies including the United States Navy and Soviet Navy. The site features in colonial-era diplomacy involving the Treaty of Jeddah, Treaty of Perpetual Friendship, and agreements brokered by League of Nations and later United Nations agencies. Modern commercial navigation follows corridors charted by the International Maritime Organization, informed by hazard warnings from Lloyd's Register, Equasis, and regional traffic separation schemes enforced by authorities in Aden, Djibouti City, and Djibouti Navy.
The strait supports ecosystems linking reefs, pelagic zones, and upwelling areas that sustain species monitored by IUCN, WWF, FAO, and research programs from Zoological Society of London and universities such as University of Cape Town, Cairo University, and University of Oxford. Fauna includes migratory populations of humpback whale, sperm whale, bottlenose dolphin, and shark species cataloged by IUCN Red List assessments and studies by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Marine Mammal Center. Coral assemblages share affinities with reefs recorded in Sudan, Eritrea, and Yemen and have been subjects of bleaching research by teams associated with NOAA Coral Reef Watch, International Coral Reef Initiative, and Smithsonian Institution. Pelagic fisheries target species referenced by Food and Agriculture Organization catch statistics linking to fleets from China, Japan, South Korea, France, and Spain.
The strait is integral to global commerce linking crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments from fields near Basra, Khartoum basin, Masila, and terminals such as Ras Isa and Ruwais to markets in Rotterdam, Fujairah, Antwerp, and Houston. Local economies in Aden, Djibouti City, Berbera, and Assab derive income from transshipment, bunkering, and logistics services used by companies including Maersk, MSC, COSCO, BP, and Shell. Fishing communities linked to ports like Tawahi and artisanal fleets operate under regulations influenced by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and bilateral agreements between Yemen and neighboring states.
Environmental concerns include oil spills, ballast water transfer, overfishing, and habitat degradation addressed by conventions and organizations such as the International Maritime Organization, Convention on Biological Diversity, RAMSAR Convention, United Nations Environment Programme, and regional bodies in Djibouti and Yemen. Conservation initiatives involve NGOs like IUCN, WWF, Greenpeace, and academic collaborations with University of Exeter, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and University of Nairobi to monitor pollution, protect coral habitats, and manage fisheries according to indicators used by Global Environment Facility projects. Geopolitical tensions and security operations by coalitions including Combined Task Force 150 and multilateral missions complicate long-term environmental governance and cross-border conservation planning.
Category:Straits of the Red Sea