Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert sea turtle and other sea turtles also occur here, as well as a great variety of birds, some resident and some migratory. There are some protected areas, but in general the habitats have been degraded by the grazing of livestock, especially camels and goats; they are also at risk from oil spills, off-road driving and poaching. In Oman this ecoregion includes the Musandam Peninsula, the enclave of Oman within the UAE on the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Persian Gulf. In the main part of Oman it includes the coastal plain of the Al Batinah Region on the
Piracy in the Persian Gulf coast of Fars during the reign of Yazdegerd II. Ibn Hawqal, a 10th-century history chronicler, alludes to piracy in the Persian Gulf in his book "The Renaissance Of Islam". He describes it as such: In Richard Hodges' commentary on the increase of trade in the Persian Gulf around 825, he makes references to Bahraini pirate attacks on ships on ships from China, India and Iran. He believes the pirates were attacking ships travelling from Siraf to Basra. Marco Polo made observations of piracy in the Persian Gulf. He states that in the seventh century, the islands of Bahrain were held