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Fisheries Program
More than 20 million people now live in the coastal region of East Africa and that number is expected to grow to 39 million by 2014. Many of these people are highly dependent on marine resources and are increasingly having a significant impact on the region’s marine biodiversity. Over-fishing, coupled with destructive fishing techniques are of particular concern in mainland East Africa. Current fishing practices are driving degradation of coral reefs due to poor or inadequate management, which in turn exacerbates pressure on coral reefs from sea surface temperature rise due to climate change.
The program is involved is in monitoring of fish catch and resource populations, often with resource users as participants and partners, to determine how global and local threats combine to affect the livelihoods of people dependent on coral reef resources. Most projects under this program were initiated with the aim of encouraging the participation of fisher folk and other coastal resource users in the management of their resources. The participatory monitoring projects have sought over the years to create awareness of the state of coral reef and fishery resources among local user communities, and to engage them in taking a more active role in the management of these resources. In addition they have imparted skills and training on data collection methods to fisher folk and build capacity within their own communities for monitoring the state of their resources.
The following past and ongoing projects are summarized on this page. Reporting from the projects can be found in the Resources section and in the CORDIO Status Reports.
Participatory Fisheries monitoring
Resource/Ecological Monitoring
Community Barazas/Disseminations
Fisher Groups/Institutional Strengthening
Sustainable lobster fisheries for improving livelihoods in northern Kenya
Promoting sustainable and responsible fishing in Kenya
Participatory Fisheries monitoring
Fish catches landed by individual fishermen at various landing sites from the south coast in Kenya were recorded by fishers trained in data collection for seven years, from 1999 - 2006. The data for each fishing trip including the vessel, gear, fishing site, catch composition (by local name) and total catch weight are recorded. Twice a year (once each during the south-east monsoon and the north-east monsoon) a fisher census was conducted, recording the total number of fishers engaged in fishing, the gears in use and the length of several key species of fish caught in various gear type. The results from this work were communicated back to fishers and other stakeholders through community barazas. See also the CORDIO Status Reports in the resources page for results of this work.
The knowledge passed to fishers during the monitoring period is currently being used by some BMUs in keeping records of their catches and could be applied to others along the coast. The participatory monitoring program was aimed at (1) introducing a community based monitoring program, to track trends in resource use, condition and benefit management agencies simultaneously; (2) engaging the fisher groups, community institutions and other stakeholders in resource management; and (3) use the monitoring program as a tool for education and capacity building among fishers.
Resource/Ecological Monitoring
From 2000 to 2003 teams of trained fisher folk used underwater observation techniques to record data on benthic cover (transect), fish abundance (UVC), and invertebrates at key Fishing Sites within the fishing areas of south coast landing sites. This monitoring was undertaken twice a year during each monsoon. Other individual projects for resource monitoring have also brought fishers together to undertake reef mapping and mapping of terrestrial resources utilized in making fishing gear. See the resources section for reports.
Community Barazas/Disseminations
An important component of all CORDIO projects is reporting results of various monitoring programs and research back to the community and stakeholders. The feedback meetings such as community Barazas at landing sites provide projects feedback and opportunity to discuss the trends in resources observed and various other issues affecting fisher folk and the state of their resources. These meetings are meant to encourage fishers to find ways to address these and other landing site related issues .
Fisher Groups/Institutional Strengthening
Many projects focus on strengthening local community and fisher folk institutions and groups, to build their capacity to take responsibility over more of their affairs and possibly resource management functions. Some activities under these projects have included exchange visits for fishers to other coastal locations (Tanzania/Kiunga/Lamu/Lake Victoria), visits from fisher folk leaders from the Philippines, and Lake Victoria. After the establishment of Beach Management Units (BMUs) as the primary institution for co-management of artisanal fisheries in Kenya waters, emphasis has been placed on strengthening the functioning of coastal BMUs. Most recent projects have focused on (1) capacity building, awareness and consultation workshops and exchange visits for small scale fisheries in Kenya (2) social, economic and environmental impacts of beach seining in Kenya.
Sustainable lobster fisheries for improving livelihoods in northern Kenya
The overall goal of the project is to provide a sustainable management plan for the lobster fishery, one of the primary marine fisheries in Lamu District in northern Kenya. The purpose of the project is to inject new and advanced fishery management approaches to the primary fisheries that coastal people depend on particularly in Kiunga Marine National Reserve, a globally significant area of marine biodiversity in northern Kenya. The project trials innovative fishery management approaches that combine: a) recent scientific advances in fishery stock assessment and management; b) community based implementation mechanisms and c) government led fisheries operational management plans. The project focuses on the lobster fishery as one of the key livelihoods for coastal people in Kiunga. Lobster populations have declined dramatically in recent years and current fishing practices are now unsustainable. The problems the project intends to address are over-fishing, loss of biodiversity in marine protected areas and ultimately poverty and poor food security. Unsustainable fishing practices are embedded in poverty and continue because poverty reduction strategies are currently failing at the Coast.
Promoting sustainable and responsible fishing in Kenya
This 18-month project is to provide specific recommendations for fisheries regulations to ensure sustainable and responsible fishing methods for Kenya’s artisanal coastal fisheries and to empower a range of stakeholders in fisheries management, policy development and advocacy. The project is support by USAID, through PACT Kenya.