The proposed project will be implemented in Kibuyuni village within Shimoni-Vanga seascape of Kenya?s South coast. Kibuyuni land area is largely covered by a coral rag that is unsuitable for agriculture. This means majority of Kibuyuni inhabitants depend on marine resources for a livelihood. This is evident in the choice of Kibuyuni to be selected as a piloting area for seaweed farming in 2009 under the ReCoMaP project. This importance of marine resources to Kibuyuni people therefore means that they must be safeguarded at all times by all means. However, the capacity of the local resource management institutions such as the Beach Management Unit (BMU) is quite low. With heavy dependence on marine resources in the population, overfishing and use of illegal and destructive gears such as the spearguns and beach seine that are more efficient has been inevitable. This has led to habitat degradation of marine ecosystems that manifests itself in continually reducing fish catches and household incomes causing entrapment of the people in a vicious cycle of poverty. Besides, there has been creation of the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) in Kibuyuni, but its enforcement has been weak leading to occasional poaching especially from neighbouring BMUs. The LMMA has also been small in size and thus only offering little protection to critical ecosystems and key species of conservation interest. For effective resource and habitat protection, it is proposed to extend the area under LMMA from 30 ha to 100 ha.

The proposed project seeks to address the above challenges through enhanced participation of the community and their capacity building. The main expected outcome is the improvement in the health of the resource base and therefore positively impact on socioeconomic conditions of the Kibuyuni community. Proposed interventions include; extension of boundaries of the current LMMA and thus protect more habitats and species and building capacity of the BMU in combating illegal and destructive fishing through training and actual conducting of patrols.