Behavioural Surveys Begin!
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
The Socio-economic Impact Of The Dolphin Watching Industry In The Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area (KMMPA)
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
The Beauty Of Butterflies
Category: Butterflies, Shimoni Forest | Date: Oct 23 2009 | By: gvikenya
When I first came out here to GVI Kenya in July 2008, I never thought I would become an avid fan of butterflies. To be honest, I would have laughed at the thought (as would many of my friends back home in England!), but I now proud to say otherwise.
As part of our biodiversity research in Shimoni east forest, we monitor butterfly diversity and abundance. We are trying to put together a comprehensive species list, as well as record any changes in species presence, distribution, or changes in abundance. We do this for several reasons.
Charaxes brutus. Here you can see its proboscis very well (the curly red thing) which is used for feeding.
Firstly, butterflies are a very well studied taxon. They are also easily identifiable (they are 90% identifiable by external characteristics), and we can do it ourselves relatively accurately using a book (Larsen 2006). They are also excellent ecological indicators due to their very specific plant and habitat associations. So by monitoring them, we can indirectly monitor the health of the forest.
Charaxes brutus
And finally, they have a trait that plays straight into our hands. They can only take off upwards. This means they are very easy to trap! We use things called canopy traps, which comprise of a board with a pot of bait in the middle. A couple of inches above the board is a cylindrical tube of mosquito netting. So the butterflies fly onto the board to feed on the bait, then when they attempt to fly away, they fly straight into the net!
The face of Charaxes brutus
Once caught, we remove them from the net, and take photographs of the upperside and the underside for later identification. Getting them out of the trap is fairly easy. You grab them by the sides of the thorax, which is the middle section that houses all of the muscles for the legs and wings. You can then use your other hand to slide your finger between the wings and get a grip of the thorax from the top and bottom. The butterflies we catch in the traps tend to be the larger species, and they are very strong! It still surprises me how solid their thorax is, and the strength of their wings. By using this method, we can be sure not to touch their wings or harm the butterfly. Once photographed, we let them fly on their way. An example of the grip we get is shown below.
Papilio demodocus demodocus
I decided to write this blog because Andy (a new edition to GVI) has a camera with an amazing macro setting, allowing us to get some really cool photos of the butterflies. Enjoy the close ups!
Tags: , abundance, bait, biodiversity research, Butterflies, butterfly diversity, canopy traps, cylindical tube, distribution, ecological indicators, habitat association, health of the forest, identification, mosquito netting, papilio demodocus demodocus, plant association, Shimoni east forest, species list, species presence, taxon, thoraxcharaxes brutus, underside, upperside
Monitoring The Health Of Kenya’s Reefs
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Reef fish research | Date: Aug 31 2009 | By: gvikenya
My name is Aaron. I am a conservation student from England. I have joined Global Vision International (GVI) as a conservation intern to gain experience in the marine biology field. I have been with GVI for 9 weeks with a further 11 weeks to go.
This week on Marine represented a new opportunity to expand GVI’s research in Kenya. The majority of GVI’s marine research has concentrated on monitoring tourist and fishing activity against dolphin behavior and abundance. Whilst this research has been, and continues to provide essential data to Kenya Wildlife Service, it is only focused on the effects to cetaceans.
Setting up the survey
This week we were able to begin monitoring reef fish abundance, with the intention of creating a long term data capture, similar to that of the dolphin surveys. This means that not only will we be able to see effects of tourism and fishing on dolphins, but we will also be able to see the effects on not only reef fish, but also coral reef habitats as the abundance of reef fish can indicate the health of reef habitats, which also act as feeding grounds for dolphins.
The way reef fish surveys are done is by sampling 5 random sections of coral reef habitats. Reef fish species and size are noted down. This gives a snapshot of the reef fish abundance at any one point in time and provides data on an exciting and important aspect of the marine ecology of Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area. It’s an honour to help set up this research and I am proud to be contributing to something that can make a real difference.
Survey training underway
Tags: abundance, cetaceans, coral, data capture, Dolphins, ecology, fishing, habitat, Kenya Wildlife Service, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, long term, marine, reef fish, surveys, tourists
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