GVI Kenya

Category: Cetacean research, Dolphin-watching tours, Dolphins, Eco-tourism, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Nov 09 2009 | By: gvikenya

Tourist Dhow Analysis

It is one of GVI’s objectives to analyse the socio-economic impact of tourism operations within the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area (KMMPA) and to ascertain the sustainability of the increasing levels of human-dolphin interaction.  Through doing so GVI hope to identify existing problems and to propose constructive changes that would assist tour companies, boat operators and local residents to run dolphin watching activities sustainably.

In order to assess the quality of the dolphin watching tours GVI spend the day aboard tourist dhows.  During their time aboard they will begin by giving a brief 3-5 minute introduction covering what GVI is doing in the area, the aims and objectives of the socio-economic impact of the dolphin watching industry project, and the research methodology that GVI is undertaking.  This being the analysis to tourist questionnaires that some of them will be asked to complete at the end of their trip.   

During the period of July – September 2009, 32 questionnaires were returned indicating that over 75% of visitors were under the age of 50 and that the vast majority were of British nationality, followed by French, then Dutch and German.  This emphasises the need for local operators to have good English and European language skills, an area which GVI are assisting in by offering English, French and Italian lessons, in Mkwiro and Shimoni.

 Dolphin playing with seaweed 2009-02-26

Although one third of visitors had been to Kenya before most were going to be in the country for 14 days or more, with the main reason being safaris followed by beaches; the culture; dolphin-watching then the coral reefs.  Perhaps indicating a need to advertise more effectively to the tourist market?  A comment supported by the fact that most booking for the dolphin watching appeared to be opportunistic with 27% booking through beach boys, 17% at the hotel, 7% through a taxi driver and 3% at the Shimoni jetty.  Only 46% were booked in advance through travel agents, friends and the internet. 

Over one half had also been on dolphin watching tours previously in countries such as Egypt, Spain and Australia.  The importance that they placed on this tour was: 

1.  Close observation of dolphins from the boat
2.  Learn about whales and dolphins
3.  Watching dolphin behaviour
4.  Seeing other marine mammals (whales)
5.  Taking photographs
6.  Swimming with dolphins

Although swimming with dolphins was of least importance overall to most of the visitors, 52% indicated that it was a quite or extremely important aspect of their experience … an aspect which is prohibited by the KWS Code of Conduct for responsible wildlife watching.  As tourists will base their experience on their expectations, steps should be made to rectify why they are expecting this from their tour, and to clearly state this is not available. 

Tourist dhow in Mpunguti Marine reserve

Other areas of concern which did not meet the visitors expectations were health and safety, learning about the dolphins and education about the area, with each of these rating poor or very poor.  However, many areas were rated highly such as tour operator, time taken for the tour and photographic opportunities, closely followed by seeing dolphins and learning about the environment scenery.

Taking this into consideration 90% of visitors considered the trip to be value for money, with most tourists paying between $50-75 (US) for their trip.  Additionally, two thirds also advised that they would pay up to a further $20 (US) as a conservation fee for the dolphin trip.  This together with other recommendations made by the tourists to provide more training for guides, not to damage coral reef by anchors and to have fewer boats surrounding groups of dolphins show a inclination towards conservation.  If these areas can be tackled by the local boat operators, tour companies and local residents, this is definitely a positive step towards ensuring the sustainability of dolphin-watching within the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area. 

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphin-watching tours, Dolphins, Eco-tourism, Humpback Dolphins, Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Nov 06 2009 | By: gvikenya

As part of the socio-economic impact of the dolphin-watching industry in Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area, GVI carried out a study to evaluate the quality of the talks offered during the dolphin-watching tours. The aim was to find out the knowledge of the tour guides and captain on numerous areas and indicators. This study was undertaken between July and September of 2009 by GVI staff and volunteers, which accompanied 12 tourist dhow trips, assessing 15 guides and captains. 

Unfortunately when analysing the assessment forms and categorising the areas into either insufficient or sufficient, the vast majority of trips proved to be overall insufficient.  In fact only 3 areas – presentation, duration and route and information on KMMPA – were deemed as sufficient in over half of the trips.

The first assessment was on the presentation relating to information provided on the company, crew and boat given at the beginning of the trip.  In 5 of the 12 trips only the names of the crew were given.  However, 7 proved to be sufficient providing information in a very warm and friendly manner covering all three areas.  

The information provided on the duration and route of the trip is the second area deemed to be overall sufficient.  Ten trips gave full details regarding the structure of the day, detailing the period spent searching for dolphins, snorkelling and the break for lunch.  However, 2 trips failed to mention this area at all!

The final area assessed as sufficient was for information provided on the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protect Area.  In this area 7 of the 12 trips provided good information on the difference between the Marine Park and the Marine Reserve (three of them offered by the same tour guide).  However, again 5 trips failed to provide information, merely pointing out where the MPA was.

 GVI volunteers on board a tourist dhow

Information provided on the local area also proved to be very insufficient.  With only 6 trips mentioning Shimoni, by providing a brief history and information relating to the slave caves.  Additionally, only 6 made mention of Wasini, detailing the coral board walk and village tour.  Only 1 trip discussed Mkwiro, and even that it was only to advice that it was a fisherman village.   The remainder of the tours provided no information whatsoever on the surrounding areas.

Similarly, not one of the tourist dhows discussed anything to do with the local oceanography.  For example no information was given regarding the geographical location in the Indian Ocean, of the important nesting turtle site in Funzi Bay, nor the important fishing ground of the Nyuli Reef.

Insufficient information was also provided in the area of health and safety, with the average time spent discussing this being less than 30 seconds.  Advice was given to maintain the balance of the boat, however nothing was discussed relating to the life jackets, life rings, first aid or fire extinguishers.  All 12 dhows failed to provide sufficient information. 

Another area in which most of the tourist dhows surprising failed to provide sufficient information on was that of the marine species.  Considering the tourist dhows were actually providing a dolphin-watching tour only 2 of them provided detailed information relating to the species of dolphins that could be found in the area and their habitats.  However 10 of them failed to spend even 30 seconds doing this.  Furthermore, not one of the dhows mentioned the possibility of sighting humpback whales, their characteristics or of their migration pattern through KMMPA.  With GVI having 7 sighting of humpback whales during this study period, there is clear evidence of this migration!  Similarly, when discussing the snorkelling that would be taking place as part of the tour none of them mentioned the likelihood of spotting turtles or of the species they may see in the area. 

All 12 tourist dhows also failed to discuss KWS or the Code of Conduct introduced in 2007.  No mention was made of the requirement of dolphin watching dhows to maintain a distance of 100m from groups of dolphins, that they should try and have only 2 boats around a group at one time, and to steer around a group.

 Tour guide approaching a tourist

However, on a positive note the analysis on the interaction of the tour guides is good.  The vast majority of guides were answering questions raised, and there were being interactive with the tourists.  They had a good approach and were very friendly.  Friendly suggestions were to spend less time on personal phones and not to throw cigarette ends into the MPA.

This study showed an urgent need to train the dolphin-watching guides and captains on different areas, mainly on health & safety, history of Shimoni area (Shimoni, Wasini and Mkwiro), Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area boundaries and regulations and dolphin and whales identification, biology and ecology.

Tags: , biology and ecology, captain, code of conduct, coral board walk, dolphin-watching industry, fire extinguishers, first aid, fisherman village, funzi bay, geographicla location, GVI, habitats, health and safety, Humpback whales, indian ocean, indicators, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, KWS, life jackets, life rings, Marine Park, marine reserve, marine species, migration, mkwiro, nyuli reef, oceanography, shimoni, slaves caves, snorkelling, socio-economic impact, structure of the day, surrounding areas, tour guides, Turtles, village tour, Wasini

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Nov 04 2009 | By: gvikenya

Numerous studies have been carried out throughout the world to access the impact that boat activity has on the behavior of bottlenose dolphins.  These include locations such as Clearwater (Florida), Hilton Head Island (South Carolina), Shark Bay (Australia) and off the south coast of Zanzibar.  The studies have come to show that various boating activities do have an impact on dolphin behavior such as causing changes in activity, movement and dive patterns.  They have also proven that the abundance of dolphins present in a pre-selected site has been negatively affected with such activity.

Boats in Kisite 2009-08-27 ds01-028 

GVI have recently introduced a new survey to the marine programme in which we will investigate the effect of boat interactions with Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins within the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park, Kenya.  The methodology adopted by GVI is the same as that used in Zanzibar, in which they investigated the behavioural changes of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in response to boat-based tourism.  In order to do this GVI devised a data sheet to capture two sets of information.  The first relating to the number of tourist dhows present, the distance they are from the group of dolphins and whether they violate the guidelines and secondly to record the behavior of the dolphin group; activity, spread within party, movement, dive type, party speed and direction.

Feeding 2008-10-16 394

The behavior and associated data of the dolphins is sampled every fifteen minutes using focal-group scan sampling.  To do this all individuals within the group are continuously scanned for the first five minutes (ensuring at least three scans), and the dominant behavior is determined and recorded.  The dominant behavior is that which more than half of the group are engaged in at the sample time.  The remaining ten minutes of a sample period, referred to as the lag-phase, is used only to record the number of tourist dhows within a distance of less than 50m from the dolphin group and to indicate whether they are violating the guidelines.  This process is repeated every fifteen minutes for as long as possible. 
The behavioural studies are part of the Socio-economic impact of the dolphin-watching industry in Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area project. The objectives of this project are to collect information about the socio-economic impact of tourism operation on the area and to analyze the sustainability of increased levels of human-dolphin interaction.

Tags: abundance, associated data, Australia, behaviour, boat activity, bottlenose dolphins, changes in activity, Clearwater, continuously scanned, diminant behaviour, dive patterns, Florida, focal-group scan sampling, guidelines, Hilton Head Island (South Carolina), indo-pacific bottlenose dolphin, Kisite, Kisite-Mpungiti Marine Protected Area, lag-phase, movement, negatively affected, pre-selected site, sample time, Shark Bay, socio-economic impact, South Carolina, tourist dhows, Zanzibar

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Oct 29 2009 | By: gvikenya

The activity of dolphin (whale)-watching is described as “the commercial observation of cetaceans in their habitat from a platform on land, sea or air” (Hoyt 2001).
The dolphin-watching industry constitutes an emergent business in many coastal areas around the world and has seen spectacular growth over the last fifteen years. The industry began in the 1950’s in San Diego (California) and has since expanded as far as Antarctica. During the 1960’s, the industry grew significantly in the United States and Canada, followed by Australia, New Zealand, the Canary Islands, Japan and Norway in the 1980’s (Hoyt 1995, 1996) and, Iceland, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Tonga in the middle of 1990’s.

 
In 1998, the number of dolphin-watching tourists totalled around 9 million, estimating the volume of income generated to be 1 billion US Dollars, doubling the income in 1994 (Hoyt, 2001). In 1998, of those nine million participating in dolphin-watching trips, one million were from the United States alone. More recently, other countries and regions such as the Canary Islands and Canada have reached similar volumes. Australia and South Africa are expected to double their numbers from 500,000. (Hoyt, 2001)
This activity has been developed in more than 492 communities with the majority experiencing a real transformation. Dolphin-watching provides important incomes, creates new activities which generate new employment and moreover, constitutes a very useful tool to study marine mammals and marine environments.
Whale and dolphin watching have become an increasingly popular and financially important tourist activity along the East African coast.  Currently, dolphin research and conservation efforts are being undertaken in Tanzania (Zanzibar) and Mozambique within the Sustainable Dolphin Tourism in East Africa Project. However, to date, few studies of cetaceans have been undertaken in Kenya and there is an urgent need to initiate research to aid future conservation and management of the species found in Kenyan coastal waters.

A bottlenose dolphin being watched by tourists in the KMMPA 
Global Vision International (GVI) Kenya has set up a new project focused on the dolphin-watching activity of Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area (KMMPA). The objectives of this project are to collect information about the socio-economic impact of tourism operation on the area and to analyze the sustainability of increased levels of human-dolphin interaction.  Further, to identify existing problems and to propose constructive changes to respective government institutions that would help boat operators, tour companies, and the local residents in running the activity sustainably. These objectives will in turn add value to the Code of Conduct for KMMPA, developed by Kenya Wildlife Service in 2007.
Aims:
 1. Analysis of the socio-economic activity (dolphin-watching) in KMMPA.
 2. Impact of tourist dhow boats on the cetacean population.
 3. Education and awareness of boat operators and tour guides.

The data will be collected through interviews to tourist, boat operators, hoteliers and local community members in Mkwiro, Shimoni and Wasini. Also, GVI research vessel will assess the impact of this tourism investigating the abundance, distribution and behaviour of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus). Moreover, we will compare sightings and behaviour on different areas and with different levels of tourism activity that will allow us to evaluate the Code of Conduct. And finally, GVI will create awareness and education of local dolphin species and habitats engaging the boat operators and tour guides in different projects so as to promote conservation issues.

References:
Hoyt, E. 1995. The Worldwide Value and Extent of Whale Watching: 1995. Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Bath, UK. pp. 1-36.
Hoyt, E. 1996. Whale watching and community development around the world. Keynote lecture to the International Whale Watching Festa ’96. The International Whale Watching Forum (Japan). Zamami, Okinawa, Japan, 9 Mar. 1996.
Hoyt, E. 2001. Whale watching 2001:  Worldwide tourism numbers, expenditures and expanding socioeconomic benefits. International Fund for Animal Welfare, Yarmouth Port, MA, USA, pp. i –vi; 1-158.

Tags: , abundance, Antarctica, Australia, behaviour, boat operators, California, Canada, Canary Islands, cetaceans, coastal areas, code of conduct, commercial observation, conservation efforts, constructive changes, distribution, dolphin research, dolphin-watching, East African Coast, emergent business, financially important, generate new employment, Global Vision International, government institutions, habitat, Hong Kong, human-dolphin interaction, Iceland, important incomes, indo-pacific bottlenose dolphin, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenyan coastal waters, local residents, marine environments, marine mammals, mkwiro, Mozambique, new activities, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, platform, real transformation, research vessel, San Diego, shimoni, socio-economic impact of tourism, South Africa, spectacular growth, sustainability, Sustainable Dolphin Tourism in East Africa Project, Tanzania, Tonga, tour companies, tourist activity, United States, useful tool, Wasini, whale watching, Zanzibar

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Mkwiro Village, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Oct 27 2009 | By: gvikenya

Devon Tighe is a two-week volunteer, assisting with GVI’s marine conservation research. She hails from New York City where she does strategic research at the New York Times.

Back home in New York City I practice yoga. Now, let’s be honest: When most people think of yoga they think of a flaky, tree-hugging, hippy-types sitting around crossed-legged, chanting long, sonorous “om”s. Allow me to attest that this is not the case. For many of us, yoga is, very simply, about breathing.

Regardless of whether you come from New York, London, Nairobi or Mkwiro Village, I imagine you have heard the expression “just breathe”. In the literal sense, breathing is the natural, instinctual mechanism that keeps oxygen flowing throughout our bodies and keeps us alive. In the more prosaic sense, we associate breathing with the calming of our nerves, the steadying of our focus. Or, as we often say in the yoga studio, with the “letting go”.

When I participated in my first dolphin survey, we were fortunate to come upon an extraordinarily large pod of forty dolphins. While the mere sight of them was stunning, what I found myself most mesmerized by was the sound the animals were making.  When dolphins surface for a peduncle dive – which is the arc-shaped swimming movement most of us are familiar with – the animals exhale out of a blowhole that lies several centimetres in front of the dorsal fin. While we were out among the large pod, I was surrounded by the gracious, full-bodied sound of exhaling as the dolphins heaved gusts of air out of their graceful, dancing bodies.

“They are letting go” I kept thinking to myself. As we do in yoga, they are linking movement with the breathe. They are steadying themselves to stay on course. With that wonderful sound of spewing breathe, they are pushing out the dynamic force that connects us all – humans, dolphins, all the precious life in our world.

When I return to the hustle and bustle of New York City when I am finished with my time here on Wasini Island, I have no doubt that one of my favourite memories will be the sound of the dolphins. Exhaling.
Devon Tighe

Tags: blowhole, breathing, dolphin survey, dorsal fin, London, marine conservation, marine research, mechanism, Mkwiro Village, Nairobi, nerves, New York City, New York Times, oxygen, peduncle dive, pod, strategic research, wasini island, yoga

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Oct 14 2009 | By: gvikenya

Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area (KMMPA) lies south of Wasini Island (south-coast of Kenya) and covers an area of 39 square kilometres. The KMMPA includes the National Park surrounding Kisite Island and the Marine Reserve surrounding the Mpunguti islands. The KMMPA and the marine wildlife it contains are an important tourist attraction and, as a result, an important resource for Shimoni and surrounding communities. The islands within the KMMPA are surrounded by coral reefs attracting divers and snorkelers to the area. Almost every day dolphin-watching companies operating from Shimoni travel through Wasini Channel to the KMMPA. These tourist dhows most frequently encounter Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), and less frequently, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis).

Global Vision International (GVI) Kenya’s main working partner is the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). The research conducted by GVI is shaped to satisfy the objectives of KWS, so as to assist them towards better management of the area.  All data collected thus far is made available to KWS to aid in management plans of the study area. The Marine Programme is supporting KWS to collate data by conducting vessel surveys, which was focus on assessing the bottlenose dolphin abundance on the area, during the initial phase.

After three years of cetacean research in Kisite-Mpunguti MPA, GVI has estimated the absolute abundance of bottlenose dolphins around 122 individuals, being the second biggest population of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in East Africa. The largest population of the species inhabits in Kizimkazi (south-coast of Zanzibar), and holds between 139 and 179 individuals (estimation made by University of Stockholm in 1999-2002).  

Photo-id and mark-recapture methods were the methodology used on both studies to get the estimation. Photo-ID refers to the identification of individuals by distinctive features (shape, outline, natural markings and scarring) of their dorsal fins, flanks and flukes. Some scars will be retained through life, whereas others will be added and may fade through life. The depth and severity of the wound will determine the length of time this may be used for identification. These features allow known individuals to be re-sighted. The re-sighting rate can be plotted on a discovery curve, the plateau of which suggests population size. Photo-ID can also be used to determine residency and demographic data such as inter-birth intervals, patterns of ranging and mortality.

Mark-recapture methods are used to calculate population size from the proportion of known individuals re-sighted over the study period. Mark-recapture models estimate only the size of marked individuals in the population. Therefore, the total population size has been corrected by the correction factor.

Kenya Wildlife Service applied a code of conduct in 2007 for the tour operators to follow when manoeuvring around the cetacean species; unfortunately it is not being fully adhered to as it has only recently been implemented. The levels of interaction between cetaceans and the tour operators are not being monitored or regulated in any way. The impact these activities may be having is unknown. In particular, it’s not known whether current levels of dolphin tourism are sustainable for the area. The first estimation of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in KMMPA will allow GVI and KWS to measure the levels of tourism impacts, analysing the population dynamics of this species.

Tags: absolute abundance, coral reefs, correction factor, demographic data, depth, divers, dorsal fin, identification, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, inter-birth intervals, Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Service, kisite island, marine programme, marine reserve, mark-recapture, mpunguti island, national park, photo-ID, severity, shimoni, snorkellers, south coast, surveys, University of Stockholm, wasini channel, wasini island

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Oct 10 2009 | By: gvikenya

The start of GVI’s marine research this October was certainly an incredible one. As part of the daily dolphin survey we were heading through Funzi Bay towards the Wasini Channel when Nick (our conservation intern/staff) excitedly drew our attention to a potential sighting. To our amazement it was a humpback whale and her calf.

There had been anticipation in the air that such a sighting may occur since the whales were migrating South from the warmer waters of the East African coast where humpback whales breed (during July and August), but no one could have expected it so early; we had been on board for a mere hour and a half.

While the sighting was spectacular, the events that followed demonstrated the challenges of marine conservation in popular tourist areas and the importance of GVI’s work. With minutes two tourist boats had also spotted the whales and, as one would expect, they wanted to get the best view possible. This attention clearly agitated the mother and her calf and they diverted their course away from Wasini Channel. Although it was incredible to have seen such an animal, it was sobering to have seen at first hand the direct impact of tourist traffic on marine mammals. Our humpback whale sighting was not the only sighting of the day to illustrate this…

Not long after having left the mother and calf, we encountered a group of bottlenose dolphins travelling through Kiste Mpunguti Marine Park. Again, we were exposed to the impact tourism is having in the area and the difficulty of balancing much-needed tourism with equally important conservation. We witnessed tourists jumping from their tour boat directing in amongst the group of dolphins. Of course, the possibility of swimming with dolphins is an excellent means of generating custom for the tour operators, but it is detrimental to the dolphins and indeed, it is prohibited by the KMMPA Code of Conduct.

These two sightings were an amazing start to the season’s marine research, but the experience was a stark reminder of the tensions that exist between the need for income gained through tourism and ecological conservation; both of which are vital to the local area and economy. In turn, these tensions demonstrate the necessity of GVI’s work and the value of the data it provides which is used by local organisations to develop solutions to such problems.

Tags: , calf, data, dolphin survey, East African Coast, ecological conservation, economy, funzi bay, humpback whale, marine conservation, marine mammals, mother, tour boat, tourist, wasini channel

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Aug 11 2009 | By: gvikenya

Today, our marine team piled onto a tourist Dhow to continue the research we’ve started with them.  We are mainly looking at the routes the dhows are taking, where they get their sightings, how many other dhows are at each sighting and how the animals behave and react to them.  Emily, tells us how the day went;

We boarded Aqua and waited for our “subjects” to come on board. Eventually our boat was filled with 2 Swedish families who were both here for 6 months to adopt their children and 2 Dutch couples on holiday.  After a brief introduction of GVI and our dolphin research methods, we set off in search of dolphins:  Absolute record breaking! Dolphins appeared 2 minutes into the trip! I hadn’t even managed to write the date on to the log form yet! 8 dorsal fins were slowly bobbing up and down in a docile fashion.  It was all excitement on board, kids pointing fingers, adults pointing cameras, Ines pointing at the dorsal fins and immediately identifying the species/age and even their catalogue number. 

 Data collection in the sun

Several of them had perfectly shaped dorsal fins, so undamaged that they could only have been juveniles; a couple of them had distinguishable chips and marks that enabled us to recognise them as the “regulars”.  #027 was spotted (“Melika”). He swam around our boat, surfaced for air a few times and characteristically dove down for a minute or so as dolphins do with the juveniles following one by one; beautifully synchronised, breathing through their blow holes, backs and fins glistening in the sun. A couple more boats arrived and the dolphins lingered on. We left them in peace after 20 min and headed to Kisite Island for spot of snorkelling.

 No. 27 - “Melika”

We mingled with our multi-national guests; Steph showing the kids laminated photos of dolphins explaining their behaviours; Ines sign languaging the direction of Kisite Island to me behind the Dutch as I, in turn, looked very knowledgeable about the geography of the local area.  We arrived in no time and everyone stripped to their swim gear and jumped in with snorkels.  It was low tide and as I gently put my foot, something wriggled under my foot that felt far smoother than sand. I put my head under and saw a blue-spotted stingray burying itself in the sand in a huff: Whoops! Sorry! The water was clear and the entire cast of ‘Finding Nemo’ was there, plus all the extras who didn’t make it into the final cut, chomping on the brightly coloured corals.

 Kisite Island

After a small snack of coconut, bananas and biscuits on the boat, we headed to Wasini for some lunch.  We sat down at a table with flowers scattered all over it. A beautiful steamed crab was placed in front of us along with coconut rice, vegetables, seaweed, chapattis and an assortment of fish! Well worth $8!

We got the tourists to fill out questionnaires before getting picked up by Bardan, our very own research vessel, and headed home.

Tags: catalogue, data collection, dolphin research, kisite island, kisite-mpunguit marine protected area, snorkelling, tourist, tourist dhow

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Category: African Fish Eagle, Birds, Cetacean research, Community Conservation, Dolphins, Mangroves, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Aug 03 2009 | By: gvikenya

As part of GVI’s marine research programme here in Mkwiro, we conduct interviews with the local fishermen on the island.  The people here have been fishing for generations, and spend more time out on the water than anyone.  They can provide invaluable information about sightings (of dolphins, whales, turtles, dugongs etc), catches, pollution and illegal activities. A GVI volunteer Hooi Ling, tells us about her day conducting interviews.

The villagers on the island are Muslim so we made sure we had our head, shoulders and knees covered before we set off for our excursion. As usual, the children greeted us with loud, enthusiastic “Jambo! What is your name?” as we walked through Mkwiro village. Some of the faces were familiar because we were working with the community last week teaching them English and Creative Arts, and playing sports and singing songs with the children. A few of the children had learnt Mandarin phrases and it warmed my heart to hear them greet me with “Ni hao” (how are you) and “Huan yin” ( welcome).

 A sacred ibis, seen from the mangroves

After about 15 minutes, we reached the mangroves. Felicity explained the importance of mangroves for preventing soil erosion and creating a breeding and feeding ground for fishes and birds. We learnt how mangrove trees survive in salt water by growing roots, which protrude above ground for oxygen and shed leaves to discard excess salt. The trees also grow long, green seed pods which float around at high tide before setting itself in the ground at low tide. She pointed out tiny gastropods (snails and sea slugs).

Fiddler crabs fascinated me!!! The male crabs have one very enlarged chela which they use to wave in a circle to establish territory and to attract females. When lots of fiddler crabs waved together, they looked like they were doing a Mexican wave; quite comical to watch.  And the number of amazing birds you see from the mangroves is just incredible!  We saw herons, african fish eagles, a sacred ibis and a knigfisher! 

When we arrived in Wasini village, we looked for the local fishermen and found a few young men who could speak English and were willing to translate Kiswahili for us. I interviewed a 55 year old fisherman who had been fishing for over 20 years. GVI had a comprehensive interview to find out from local fishermen such things as the types of fish they had caught, fishing equipment, whether their catch had increased/decreased over the years and which fishing grounds they used. We also asked them about the dolphin and turtle population and the level of damage caused to their nets. After the interview, fishermen informed us that the local villagers had set up a committee since 2003 to protect the Wasini reef from fishing and coastal pollution.

Another beautiful sight - a western reef heron 

Annica and I ate some local food (chapatis with a nice cup of hot ginger tea) while the others (Flick, Kirsty and Mila) visited the coral gardens. The coral gardens consisted of dead corals surrounded by mangrove trees and the local women’s group has built boardwalks around the corals. My highlight of the day was when I saw four bottlenose dolphins jumping and travelling with the tourist dhows.

Although I was not out on a boat today, it has been an enjoyable day learning about the mangroves and seeing the dolphins. Asante sana Flick!

Tags: bottlenose dolphin, Dugong, fisherman, humpback whale, interviews, Mangroves, marine research, sacred ibis, turtle, western reef heron

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles, bottlenose dolphins | Date: May 26 2009 | By: gvikenya

As I mentioned before, the Kusi winds and rain make life difficult for dolphin research on the open seas. Yesterday our efforts on the water went unrewarded again… although I stick with my little mantra that “no data is still valuable data”!

Today however the team aboard ‘Lampard’ started with a promising early sighting, a group of four bottlenose dolphins sighted around the eastern end of Wasini Island. But the rough seas made for tough conditions under which to follow the small travelling group, let alone try to take the photos from which we would be able to try and identify the individuals.

So the search continued, rounding the end of Wasini Island in to Mpunguti marine reserve, cruising between the two Mpunguti islands and on in to Kisite marine park. The destination was Kisite Island where we hoping that the sheltered side would allow us at least to look for turtles in the water along one of our snorkel transects.  However before we ready to jump overboard, another group of four bottlenose dolphins approached the boat as the wind and waves subsided… leaving us with good conditions and a perfect opportunity to get back to what we had been trying earlier, photo-identification.

Besty with her distinctive dorsal fin notches 

Both Andy and Jamie were armed with cameras in a photo-ID duel. It was the two adult dolphins that were our key target, as they would hopefully be individuals catalogued over the past 3 and a half years that we could recognise. And in fact they both were, Nene (or individual 083) and Besty (individual 017 - the 17th individual we formally identified, from 2006). Besty was accompanied by her calf and the fourth individual was a sub-adult. With the local dolphins having been elusive for much of the last few months, it was pleasing to enjoy these four showing off in the calm waters around Kisite Island. The calf in particular seemed to be in playful mood, posing for the camera with ’spyhops’ - holding the head vertically out of the water.

 Nene with Besty’s calf spyhopping

No turtles on the transect, but the day was far from disappointing and seeing Besty again is like meeting up with an old friend.

Tags: bottlenose dolphins, Cetacean research, kisite island, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, marine mammals, turtle research, wasini island

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