Kaio Island, a small island, located near Gaddani in Balochistan’s Lasbela district, is an important ecological habitat, known for its diverse underwater marine animals. Kaio Island is among the very few areas along the coast of Pakistan, which has a habitat associated with coral sand and is inhabited by a large variety of invertebrates and colourful fish.
Kaio Islands Complex has an area of about 400 sq. km. It has marine waters with a maximum depth of 30 m whereas major part of the bottom is predominantly sandy in nature. There are coral assemblages around the islands and subtidal rocky patches. The coast is influenced by the repeated reversal of monsoon which causes deep convective mixing especially during the north-east monsoon bringing nutrient rich water to the surface supporting high productivity in the Arabian Sea.The wave action, for most part of year in intense especially during southwest monsoon (mid May to mid September), however, during rest of the period the sea conditions remain calm or with moderate wave action. During November and February the current in the area flows in anticlockwise direction whereas during remaining part of the year it is clockwise.
