Other Yemeni cities are Zinjibar, Shuqrah, Ahwar, Balhaf, Mukalla, Ash-Shihr, al-Hami, Hadibu, and Qulensya.

[6] Local fishing takes place close to the shore; sardines, tuna, kingfish, and mackerel make up the bulk of the annual catches.

[4] Approximately 11% of the world's seaborne petroleum passes through the Gulf of Aden on its way to the Suez Canal or to regional refineries.

In antiquity, the gulf was a thriving area of international trade between Ptolemaic Egypt and Rome in the west and Classical India, its Indonesian colonies, and Han China in the east.

After the collapse of the Roman economy, direct trade ceased but the Awsan I port Crater, located just south of the modern city of Aden, remained an important regional center.

In late antiquity and the early medieval period, there were several invasions of Yemen from Ethiopia; after the rise of Islam, the gulf permitted repeated migrations of northwest Africa by Arab settlers.

[20] A geologically young body of water, the Gulf of Aden has a unique biodiversity that includes many varieties of fish, coral, seabirds and invertebrates.

However, environmental groups fear that the lack of a coordinated effort to control pollution may jeopardize the gulf's ecosphere.