Great Kenyan initiatives: "
Kenya and two interesting initiatives:
After removing the bumper and winch, deflating the tyres and air suspension, the expedition vehicle, named Johnny squeezed with less two centimeters of grace into a container bound for Mombasa, Kenya. Regrettably Moving Sushi had to turn tail in Oman and head back to Dubai, where the car was to be shipped to Kenya, as our route via Yemen was not passable due to escalating violence and closed borders. Our plan was to fly from Dubai to Nairobi, meet up with Anders Kohler, an interesting gentlemen working in the heart of Kibera slum on an unique project which could just revolutionize fisheries monitoring not only in Kenya but possibly along Africa’s coast. A short train ride from Nairobi would then take us to Mombasa, where we hoped to receive the car in one piece before moving up the coast to work with the Watamu Turtle Watch, and Local Ocean Trust team. Back on African soil after months of hard work in Europe, Russia, Asia and the Middle East was a relief, but what remained to be seen is just how Kenya with a history of NGO involvement, tourism, foreign income and development faired with respect to fisheries and the marine environment to the rest of Africa and the world.
Kenya’s biologically diverse coastline extends approximately 600 km from the border with Somalia in the North, to the border with Tanzania in the south. The biological diversity and richness of natural resources is economically and culturally important not only to the coastal communities, but to Kenya at large. The coastal population was estimated at 2.5 million in 1999, which accounted for roughly 9% of Kenya’s total population. There should be concern towards the lack of accurate, updated and reliable census data of Kenya’s coastal communities, as the socio-economic impact of an unrealized population size could severely hamper effective resource management. For example, the Kenyan coast has over the centuries attracted diverse ethnic and racial groups, with the highest increase in population densities in urban areas like Mombasa and Malindi. The increase in coastal populations can be attributed to the lure of potential employment in the tourism and shipping industries. The increase in coastal population has elevated poverty estimates, which range from 30 to 80% according to a report on the state of Kenya’s coast. The poor are more likely to engage in non-sustainable resource harvesting practices, putting pressure on management strategies attempting to safeguard the already abused coastal resources. Armed with wind, self and motor propelled pirogues, the artisanal fishing fleet lands and estimated 95% of Kenya’s total marine catch, contributing 6% to the coastal economy, and is the main source of livelihood for more than 60,000 households. There is however growing concern towards the increasing demand for natural resources amidst observable decreases in fish landings, destruction of coral reefs and mangrove stands and an overall disregards for the policies and regulations protecting them. The blame for decreasing fish stocks and environmental degradation is relayed in a finger pointing battle between communities, policy makers, industrial fishers, coastal developers and tourism, yet the problem lies with a combination of all the above factors. It is understood that for a system to be effectively managed local communities need to be the custodians of the resource, i.e. a sense of ownership on the resource must be bestowed on communities thereby inviting them to be more effective in reporting resource abusers (dynamite fishers, illegal gillnetters etc). The key to an involved community lies in the framework designed to facilitate effective communication and action towards perpetrators, something the government has not successfully achieved, yet from the slums of Nairobi, miles away from the coast an ingenious solution has been conceptualized and in the final stages before implementation.
The Drop-Down project is the brainwork of Anders Kholer, an expatriate from Sweden, who works and lives in the Kibera slum, the largest and arguably the poorest in Africa. With a background far from fisheries, Mr. Kholer, an expert in media, runs the first and only objective radio station in Mogadishu, Somalia, and has done so for a number of years despite the social up rest and carnivorous lifestyle of the extremists. Mr. Kholer adds that empowering people though the ability to communicate though an external “voice”, or “effective reporting” may create the resolution towards the misuse of marine resources required for effective government lobbying.
The Drop-Down project will allow community fishers, or anyone for that matter to effectively and objectively report illegal fishing activities, sewage outfalls, illegal housing developments, basically, any ailment that may impact the marine environment negatively, and it will be done though the use of simple technology. In short, any activity observed that may impact the marine environment can be recorded though a sms, picture, video recording etc. is sent to the database in Sweden, whereupon it will be peer reviewed by volunteer scientists from all over the world as to the potential impact of the observation in question.
The findings are relayed back with scientific relevance to a dataset in Kenya that can be utilized by the media to create attention towards misappropriation of resources. . The key to the success of the project is that communities have the ability to “voice” their concerns, and because the database is in Sewden, the law protects anonymity. Mr. Kohler explains for example, if an oil spill occurs along the coast, the distribution of the oil can be reported continuously along the whole coastline simultaneously. The data then fed though the review process will be available immediately for reporting by media, NGO’s etc in Kenya, ensuring the government and policy makers can’t turn a blind eye. The best part is that this dataset can be created simply as all one needs to report a problem is a cell phone, and the cost to send the data to the server in Sweden, free.
The concept is interesting and will represent a new and novel way to get communities involved in observational data capture. There are numerous challenges that need to be addressed before the Drop-Down concept succeeds, one such noticeable challenge would be the fishers interest in reporting their fishing activities as damaging to the environment. If the data requires a critical mass of entries pertaining to the same event, i.e. 5000 reports on an oil spill event, would one get the same resolution if the communities do not see dynamite fishing as a threat to the environment. Often technological advancement is seen as an aid to the artisanal fisheries sector, thereby the critical mass required to ratify an inappropriate action i.e. the miss-use of destructive fishing gears may go unreported by the community.
Understanding the importance of community participation in resource management, Moving Sushi visited the Local Ocean Trust’s flagship program, Watamu Turtle Watch (WTW). The coastal zone from Malindi extending southward to Watamu is demarcated as a Marine Reserve, whereby traditional fishers may deploy traps and fish with non-destructive gears. Within the National Reserve are two small Marine National Parks, namely Mailidi Marine Park, and Watamu Marine Park (Figure 1), where all activities pertaining to the removal of marine resources is prohibited.
Tourists within the Marine Parks have to acquire a license in order to snorkel or scuba dive from Kenya Wildlife Services, the management authority for National reserves and Parks. WTW, a local NGO monitors turtle nesting beaches within Watamu’s National Marine Park, and promotes the protection of other sea turtle nesting areas along the coast of Kenya. The uniqueness of this invaluable initiative is the forged integration and relationship between the NGO and the community at large.
The ethos of WTW is community empowerment though education, involvement and instilling a sense of worth and responsibility for their actions when harvesting resources. As of April 2010, the program has successfully released over 5800+ turtles caught by local fishers back into the ocean. Not only is this an incredible statistic, but also how the program accomplished these results is staggering. Turtles caught by fishers are predominantly immature green turtles, and at market they command high prices (KSH 2000 or South African Rand 112). Turtles captured in gill nets were traditionally slaughtered and sold, as the price of one individual would surpass the price of the total catch of fish in a given day. The solution in curbing the slaughter of turtles had to be two fold, first there needed to be an economic incentive to immediately attract the participation of fishers not to kill turtles, and secondly, a long-term education program had to be conducted to try provide an understanding that turtles form part of system that provides communities with a livelihood, and that their survival should be in the communities best interests.
WTW initiated a “pay back” system whereby fishers who caught a turtle would report the landing to WTW who would then drive to the community and pay a fee of KSH 300 (South African Rand 17) to the fishers for the turtle. The turtle would be examined for ailments such as Fibropapilloma tumors, spear gun, long-line and net injuries, before been released back into the Watamu National Marine Park. Injured turtles would be transported back to WTW compound and placed in a rehabilitation center, closely monitored by the local vet. Despite the market price for turtles been in excess of R100, and the “pay back” initiative offering only R17, local fishers bought into the concept and on any given day the WTW team may be involved in as many as 11 turtle rescues. The fishing communities have economics at best interest, i.e. it is more profitable to catch and release 10 turtles, then it is to kill one. If all the turtle are killed then there will not be a steady income coming to communities, especially since fish stocks are declining. This raised an important issue, would communities not turn their fishing effort to targeting turtles? It is unlikely as the potential damage a turtle causes to fishing net is not worth the R17 they receive in compensation. Furthermore with a persistent investment in community education mindsets are beginning to turn as to the importance of the turtles.
Despite the incredible achievements WTW faces numerous problems. Tourism despite been the largest coastal community employer and revenue generator has though development impacted on the coastal environment. Sewage leaking into the coral system adds to the potential problem of eutrophication events, development on the high tide mark reduces turtle nesting sites and pollution is on the increase. Furthermore illegal fishing in the marine protected area is rampant and unchecked, and there is no implementation of law pertaining to offenders both in terms of illegal resource harvesting and development. Diving in Watamu, in the marine protected area, the coral reef looked in desperate need of attention. Mechanical destruction of coral is evident caused by fishing vessel anchors and nets, and the lack of predatory fish species including sharks is evidence that the system is not in pristine condition.
Compounding the anthropogenic influences on the state of the coral reefs two natural events put pressure on the system, the first, the cyclic phenomenon El Nino, which devastated coral communities though the worst bleaching event recorded in history in 1998 (and which is observable again in 2010, although not quite to the same extent) and secondly, siltation that stifles coral growth by reducing its photosynthetic potential from the nearby Tana River system (although natural, poor farming practices in the catchment area has intensified the problem).
Diving the offshore reefs of Watamu, and snorkeling the inshore zone showed a system devoid of management. A clear lack of motivation from government in understanding the interconnectedness of the marine realm, its associated communities and the need for strict regulations whereby communities are included in the financial benefits of the system, i.e. they are stakeholders in the resource, is urgently required before the system slips into a state beyond repair. It was clear in our observations that communities are willing to get involved, they are interested in been responsible resource users. The general knowledge of the marine environment by local communities is poor, however a quote I shall never forget by a member of WTW, who before working for the program, found a turtle hatchling on the beach making a dash for the ocean and not having a clue what it was went to WTW for information. Subsequently after a number of years heading up WTW’s the turtle rescue program stated, “I have been baptized by turtles, they have transformed my understanding of the ocean, and this inspires me to tech my fellow community members”. People can change, and eloquently put by WTW, “the community voice is the best resource we have.”
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