Gulf of Gabes - Geographic Area

The Gulf of Gabes is located in the southern Mediterranean, at the junction of the eastern and the western basins. The gulf is bounded to the north by a line starting at 35.23° of longitude and 11.16° of latitude, and to the south by the frontier with Libya at 33.17° of longitude and 11.52° of latitude. The gulf of Gabes covers a continental shelf area of 35 909 km2 and is the second largest ecosystem in the Mediterranean Sea (the Adriatic Sea is the largest). The 200m isobath is reached at 250km off the shoreline. The ecological originality of the gulf of Gabes (high diversity, Posidonia (seagrass) meadows) and the accessibility (very shallow slope of the continental shelf, soft bottoms) are suitable for bottom trawling and have contributed to a considerable increase in the number of fishing fleets. The Gulf of Gabes has become the main area in which fishing activity in Tunisia is concentrated.

FAO Fishing Areas:  [ 37.2.2 ]