GVI Kenya

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

No responses yet

Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: Sep 07 2008 | By: gvikenya

Working on a Sunday isn’t always a bad thing… with tourism still recovering, we are taking every opportunity to join the tour boats and collect research data, so I set off at 8 this morning for a day of dolphin surveys. Towards the end of 2007 we expanded our dolphin research to incorporate the tourist boats that take visitors to the Kisite Marine Park. Whilst our core research enables us to assess population size and social associations, studying the interactions of the tour boats with the dolphins is equally important in enabling Kenya Wildlife Service to manage tourism responsibly and ensure that impacts on the dolphin population are regulated.

With their kind co-operation, we boarded the Dolphin Dhow tour, to record data on the location, duration and dolphin individuals encountered. It was a beautiful sunny and relatively calm day… no one was complaining about giving up their Sunday. As we approached Kisite Island, we joined a couple of other tourist dhows that had come across 11 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, including a mother-calf pair and a sub-adult, travelling in a tight formation towards the Kisite reef.

After the launch of the dolphin-watching code of conduct a year ago, and with five tourist boats in total, it was pleasing to see them all drive responsibly, following the group from behind at a distance of about 30m, so as not to disturb their behaviour. This is particularly important when there are young dolphins present. After 15 minutes two more tourist boats joined us with another four adult bottlenose dolphins bow-riding to join the group. The behaviour then changed, with peduncle and tail dives, and more scattered distribution suggesting that they had started foraging at the edge of Kisite reef. It was a fantastic opportunity for tourists and our research team to observe these wild animals with the sub-adult giving us a couple of playful leaps and tail slaps on the water’s surface to keep us all the more enthralled, and a soundtrack of rhythmic gentle blows as they exhaled at the surface.

As the dolphin group reformed and set off travelling again, Dolphin Dhow moored up their boat on the edge of the reef to give us the opportunity to cool off and enjoy the underwater world. After two and a half years working here, today was one of the best snorkeling trips, with exceptionally good visibility and a diversity of colourful reef fish that I hadn’t witnessed before, of all shapes and sizes… including some of the biggest I’ve seen.

Then it got better… we were unexpectedly joined by four of the dolphins, swimming around and beneath us. One of the most valuable regulations in the code of conduct was to prohibit explicit swimming with dolphins. The common anthropomorphic view is that dolphins are ‘friendly and enjoy human company’, and we all too easily forget that we are in the company of wild animals. Pursuing wild dolphins to get close enough to drop people in amongst them has to impact on their natural behaviour and it is believed to cause stress or interfere with their feeding or socialising. It really is comparable to driving off-road in a terrestrial park to get close to lions - something that few responsible tourists would tolerate these days.

However when the dolphins choose to come to you, it is at least a voluntary response to your presence, and an exceptionally rewarding experience. For 5 minutes we had clear views of these beautiful, and surprisingly large, wild animals, swimming with easy grace and precision. And the sound of their echolocation clicks reverberating through the water and seemingly through your body as they approached head-on was astonishing. It is an innate desire to observe and understand behaviour in animals that keeps me endlessly enthralled by the natural world and makes every day in the field a new experience. So to be in the water looking down on the sub-adult as it rolled on to its back for two adults to rub along its belly, was an unparalleled privilege.

After a wonderful swahili lunch on board the boat, bobbing on the Indian Ocean, it was very difficult to feel sorry for myself for having missed out on the Humpback whales a few days ago… today was another one of those “I love my job” days! With special thanks to Dolphin Dhow for making it so.

Tags: code of conduct, dolphin research, dolphin-watching, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins

One response so far