How a community can protect marine life in Kenya

The rich biodiversity of Kenya’s coastal ecosystems faces rapid population growth, illegal fishing, habitat degradation, and the looming threat of climate change. Marine megafauna like sea turtles and dolphins are some of the victims. 

IFAW works in Kenya to reduce these pressures on marine ecosystems and increase protection through locally managed marine areas (LMMAs), engaging communities to become involved in conservation. We have partnered with Kenya Wildlife Service, Oceans Alive, and Bahari Hai to ensure that Kenya’s natural resources are used fairly and sustainably. 

Transcript 

Lillian Mulupi, Marine Conservation programme officer at IFAW: The ocean is our biggest hope in the fight against climate change, because it’s actually the ocean that is supporting the life on Earth. If we don’t have an ocean, we won’t have life on Earth. 

A big proportion of Kenyans living on the coast are fishermen. They depend on fishing for a livelihood. Anything affecting the fish population in the marine environment will definitely affect their lives. 

Ledama Masidza, environmental programme manager & marine conservationist at Oceans Alive: We are in a very vulnerable and risky position, especially looking at our marine ecosystems, our coral reefs, where by 2050 we are in a very precarious position. 

Lillian: The situation right now is that marine turtles could be safe within a protected area, but when they get out, they get poached, the eggs get eaten, and things like that. So, IFAW is setting up a programme to protect the marine species, especially the marine megafauna. 

The marine megafauna that we are targetting to protect usually are migratory. They don’t stay in one place. So, we need to protect the ocean along those migratory routes. 

Ledama: The ideal scenario is a chain of collaboratively managed areas up and down the Kenyan coast—even though they may not all be doing the same thing, but each of them is operating based on a plan that is in touch with its ecosystem needs and the needs of the communities on the ground in the area, feeding towards a wider network of bodies sustainably managing our marine resource and benefitting our marine ecosystem. 

Lillian: What we’re looking at is animals and humans to thrive. We have already started engaging government agencies and the communities to figure out where the inadequacies are and what we can do to improve. 

John Mwangi Gachuru, director of Fisheries Department, Kilifi County, Kenya: We have to understand the resource in its entirety. What are the issues that we must take care of so that, at the end of the day, that resource is able to be sustainably used? 

Mohamed Namuna, Kenya Wildlife Service, Watamu Marine National Park & Reserve: Currently, we are in Mida Creek to perform a patrol for illegal fishermen and illegal logging. As we have seen, these fishermen are using some of the recommended gears, which are fishing lines. So, since they’re using the recommended gear, we can just encourage them to do so, so that they keep this environment and the ecosystem safe for their generation and the generation to come. 

Dadley Kiluhula, park manager at Kenya Wildlife Service: These are mosquito nets. Everybody gets it for free. So, instead of using them for the required purpose, they use them for fishing—one, because they don’t have money to buy the repaired nets, two, because it is the easy option. It actually comes out with everything, everything, including the eggs.  

Those people have been able to voluntarily bring these ones, and we actually give them proper nets that are legally approved. 

Lillian: It’s only when communities understand and make the decision to conserve—then is when conservation is effective. 

Currently, we have about five marine protected areas that are gazetted by the government, and so in between we have communities that are utilising these areas. But when we have active management all over the coast, species that are spreading out have got a safe place to be. 

Ledama: By setting aside a marine area for the restoration of the fishery and giving it its place in this modern-day world, 400% fish biomass increase, 30% recovery in coral, 17% in seagrass. Wow, it does work. We just need to give it its place in this action that we take. 

Lillian: We have a plan of what we are going to do, and it is huge—and so it also needs a lot of funding. Depending on our supporters, we are positive that we can be able to raise these funds to be able to carry out these very important initiatives. 

Text: This program is carried out by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service, Oceans Alive, and Bahari Hai.