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Kuwait, which is located in the northwestern Arabian Gulf, has experienced several incidences of marine life mortality during the past two decades. Mortalities included pelagic and benthic fish, Sea Cucumbers and Mollusks including pearl oysters. Most of the mortalities occurred in Kuwait Bay, which is shallow and semi-enclosed. The Bay encompasses Sulaibikhat Bay, whose coastal waters are nutrient-rich and eutrophicated due to sewage discharge into its waters. Other mortalities were reported outside Kuwait Bay, especially in marinas and southern waters of Kuwait. Kuwait’s marine environment has been increasingly affected by harmful algal blooms, which increased by frequency and severity. Other Gulf countries experienced serious mortality incidences as well. Different causes were responsible for the different marine mortalities in Kuwait and the region, including untreated sewage input, eutrophication, bacterial infection, algal blooms, hypoxic conditions, pollution, and dredging. The above mortalities impacted the economy, and affected aquaculture activities, the fishing operations, coastal tourism, damaged coral reefs, and forced the closure of desalination plants. This study summarizes the different mortality incidents that occurred in the northwestern Arabian Gulf during the period of 1999 to 2019 and their possible causes. Efforts, taken by Kuwait to improve the environmental conditions of the degraded coastal area of Kuwait Bay, include for example, the designation of a marine protected area in southern Kuwait Bay that would ensure the continued production of ecological services of the protected Bay area.

Microalgal blooms occur in Kuwait's waters year round. Seasonal non-harmful blooms are part of the annual succession in marine ecosystems and are a typical phenomenon in Kuwait's waters as well as in the Gulf region. The ecology and taxonomy of phytoplankton in Kuwait's waters have been studied during the past few decades; however, only very limited detailed taxonomical studies have been done on marine phytoplankton as a whole, as well as on potentially harmful species. Together with the phytoplankton, benthic microalgae are important primary producers and an essential component of the intertidal zone in Kuwait's marine environment. Potentially toxic microalgae were found in the intertidal sediments of Kuwait. A total of 62 identified taxa can be categorized as potentially harmful species in the collected samples from Kuwait's waters and intertidal flats. Among them, 43 taxa are potentially toxic to humans and marine biota, and 10 taxa are potentially harmful to fish and invertebrates. Potentially toxic species are usually recorded in low densities in Kuwait's waters. However, the presence of a significant number of potentially harmful species in its phytoplankton can be regarded as a significant finding with latent hazards for humans and marine ecosystems. Documentation of this sporadic high abundance together with significant species richness of the potentially toxic phytoplankton, requires more intensive and comprehensive studies of Kuwait's marine environment.