The reef along the Kenyan coast is being overfished, which has resulted in decreasing catches, reduced coral reef resilience and impoverished aesthetic value. The LMMA is in response to growing public concern about the depletion of unique marine environment around the south coast of Kenya. The LMMA addresses this concern by restricting activities which could adversely affect the marine habitat whilst providing opportunities for income generating from sustainable fisheries (i.e. octopus and mixed reef fish) livelihoods, eco-tourism and other related activities. Most of the local community members living within these villages depend on coastal ecosystem (coral reef, mangroves and sea grass beds) for food and employment. The ecosystem are being threatened by overfishing, use of destructive gears (beach seine, dynamite fishing) and impacts of climate change disturbance plus increase pressure from rapidly rising coastal population.
Effective management of marine ecosystems and their resources are essential not only to protect the biodiversity represented in these ecosystems, but also to maximize the opportunity for supporting wellbeing and alleviating multi-dimensional poverty. The Vanga community through Vanga BMU intends to undertake remedial intervention for protection of the degraded marine ecosystems hence reviving the octopus and fish populations and thereby improve the octopus value chain.
The project intends to employ various activities to ensure its objectives are met. These include enforcement of the LMMA, conduct community awareness and training programmes to enhance compliance with the regulations of sustainable fisheries resource use and address octopus value chain as immediate benefit. Octopus fishery is more pronounced in the southern coast than northern coast. We focus on octopus because it is an immediate benefit of any closure, the rest follow which is also our aim. The kind of octopus found in that area has a lifespan of 12-15 months and growth is very rapid, so within 3 months there is a significant increase in numbers and sizes. Therefore, the LMMA seek to demonstrate tangible fisheries benefits for local resource users in short term, thus strengthening local support for continuation management efforts.
The project will be located near Sii Island which is entirely covered by mangrove forest. The mangroves serve as replenishment and spawning areas for nearly 250 species of fish and 124 coral species. The surrounding sea is subjected to illegal fishing activities i.e. seine net fishing and use of explosive which destroyed the biodiversity. The LMMA will cover an area of 21.7 sq km.
The project will involve all resource users in the Villages of Vanga, Kiwegu and Jimbo, government both the national and the county government of Kwale through the County fisheries department and non-government stakeholders.