Back into the marine project

I have spoken to you in several occasions about the adventures we have enjoyed of on board of our dhow, the Bardan. And I think it’s time to tell you a little about the marine conservation project we are carrying out in the Kisite-Mpunguti MPA and surrounding waters. Basically, we conduct marine research on behalf of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which, despite being extremely efficient in the protection and management of terrestrial habitats, lacks of the necessary knowledge, trained manpower and experience within the marine environment.

Basically, the individual projects we carry out from our enduring little boat are mainly the following ones:

-          Dolphin ecology: distribution, abundance, behavior, interaction with tourist boats.

-          Megafauna surveys: distribution, abundance, ID and other ecological features of whales, rays, sharks, sea turtles, whale sharks, manta rays and, even if infrequent (only two sights) dugongs.

-          Fisheries: distribution and abundance of fish traps, fishing effort, fishing sites, fishing gears and methods (as the unfortunate spear-gun fishing)…

-          Reef fishes: distribution, abundance, population dynamics of reef fishes.

-          Socio-economic surveys: impact of the tourism in the local economy, surveys among the tourists, studies of the interaction with wildlife.

-          Mangroves: utilization, socioeconomic importance, outreach, vegetal coverage surveys.

Looks interesting? Personally, I find it amazing!

Kisite Island