GVI Kenya

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: Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles, mpunguti island | Date: Oct 21 2009 | By: gvikenya

Around 2000 years ago, trade in sea turtle products was observed in the Red Sea and East Africa region and although trade in ambergris and ivory occurred, tortoise and turtle shell was the most commonly mentioned product.  (Jack Frazier, Proceedings of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Turtle Conservation Workshop, Mombasa, 2005). All five species of Indian Ocean sea turtles are considered to be endangered and can be found in Kenya. Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are reported to nest throughout the coastline but although there are some green turtle nests confirmed in the nearby area of Funzi Island, sea turtles haven’t laid their eggs in the KMMPA (Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area) for at least seven years.

So it was with great joy that last week GVI Kenya heard the good news about a green turtle visiting the white sandy beach located in the Lower Mpunguti Island. Lily, from Coral Spirit Restaurant, located in Wasini village, shared with us the pictures she took while she was visiting the island.

Green turtle arriving in Lower Mpunguti Island in September 2009 (photo by Lili Angel).
This is an amazing happening in this Marine Protected Area, and will hopefully contribute to the conservation efforts GVI and its major local partner KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) are putting in place in the area. The islands of Mpunguti are known to support an important population of coconut crabs, nesting sites to African fish eagles, and its surrounding waters are frequently visited by Bottlenose and Humpback dolphins, as well as Hawksbill and Green turtles that feed on sea grass and algae. Both local fishermen and KWS rangers still recall the days when the turtles came to lay eggs on the Lower Mpunguti Island, the only sandy beach available for setting up the nest.  It has been almost seven or eight years since the last turtle arrived on the Lower Mpunguti Island.

 Female Green Turtle preparing the nesting site, throwing sand with her flippers (photo by Lili Angel).

Green turtle leaving the beach, returning to the sea (photo by Lili Angel). 
Green turtles typically live about 45 to 59 years. Given that a female nests in six or seven of those years and lays about 330 eggs each nesting season, she will produce 1900-2300 eggs in her lifetime. Factoring in natural predation, fungus infection of nests, and other embryo failure rates, one can expect each healthy female to produce 1000-1900 hatchlings (Spotila, James R. Sea Turtles, 2004). This information emphasises the importance of a single nest in this region. Although this turtle did not lay its eggs, she might go back to the nesting place or other turtles might look for this place as an option to nest. The next crucial step in this process is to take management actions in order to protect the nesting area and recognize it as a non-disturbance place.

Nesting site attempt (photo by Lili Angel)
The historic decline of green turtles is one of the most cited and best documented conservation issues. Its population has declined 50-70% since the 1900’s and they are recognized internationally as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and are protected in the Appendix I of the Conventional on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and in Appendix I and II of the Convention Migratory Species (CMS).

The Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee (KESCOM) was established to complement government commitment to addressing global concerns for marine turtle population decline. GVI works closely with KESCOM in sea turtle conservation efforts, through research, education and capacity building activities such as training in biology and ecology of sea turtles. The data and the pictures collected in our study area (KMMPA) are shared with this organization in order to recognize and protect important foraging, mating and nesting areas for sea turtles. The ultimate goal is to restore green turtles to population levels at which they can fulfil the ecological roles they performed in the past.

 Ines Gomez

Tags: , African Fish Eagle, algae, ambergris, biology, bottlenose dolphin, capacity building, coconut crab, conservation issues, Convention Migratory Species, Conventional on International Trade in Endangered Speci, Coral Spirit Restaurant, East Africa, ecology, education, embryo failure rates, endangered, fishermen, fungus infection, Funzi Island, global conscerns, hawksbill turtle, humpback dolphin, indian ocean, ivory, Kenya, Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee, Kenya Wildlife Service, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, KWS rangers, Lower Mpunguti Island, management actions, natural predation, Red Sea, research, sea grass, sea turtles, tortoise shell, turtle shell, Wasini Village, World Conservation Union

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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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Category: Cetacean research, Humpback whales | Date: Aug 13 2009 | By: gvikenya

On Sunday we were rewarded with yet another amazing sighting of Humpback Whales. It has been the sixth sighting since the beginning of 093 Expedition. This time, a mother Humpback Whale and its young calf were socializing in the channel between Mkwiro and Shimoni, so close to our Base Camp that we were able to see them from the land.

 The mother

It didn’t take us too long to prepare the cameras and GPS and jump into the boat to spend some time watching the pair as they slowly cruised in the channel. They seemed very relaxed in this calm and shallow waters; the young calf was lying on its back showing its distinctive white pectoral fins, while the mother rubbed her body from underneath. We were just overwhelmed by the beauty and the magnificence of the moment!

The calf showing its pectoral fin  

But the main show was yet to come…after a short diving period, the calf breached more than half of its body clearly out of the water just about 30m away from our boat…Whoww! Sunny Sunday Mornings at GVI’s Mkwiro Base.  

The pair together

During the last year (2008) we had a total of 6 sightings of 15 Humpback whales inside our study area. And from the start of July 2009, GVI has already seen 14 Humpback whales in 7 sightings. We are now sharing this data with other organizations collecting data on Humpback whales (a network that involves almost 100 whale-watchers along the East African Coast, from southern Mozambique to northern Unguja Island, Zanzibar) and contributing to have a better understanding of the migration pattern of this species.

Tags: breach, calf, camera, gps, humpback whale, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, mkwiro, mother, pectoral fin, socialising, wasini channel

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Category: Cetacean research, Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: Jul 21 2009 | By: gvikenya

Our marine research team had an amazing day yesterday! Setting off at 7am in our research boat, we surveyed out to Funzi bay and then back across to the Kisite Mpunguti marine protected area, when, after 3 hours, passing over Nyuli reef, out captain Shafii and Ines called out the phrase that has been on everybody’s lips since our first sighting two weeks ago… “whale”.

The huge blow on the horizon seen erupting from the waters was an unmistakable marker of our second humpback whale group of the season. Our boat motored out to where it had been seen, as the whale slapped its tail on the water’s surface, rolled and dived down. Three whales were seen and the research boat attempted to track a pair, possibly mother accompanied by her older offspring, but certainly not one of this season’s new arrivals. The boat follwed them as they travelled and then they dived once more. We cut the engine and waited… everyoe breathless and alert, scanning the horizon. the dive lasted two minutes and then one of the anmals broke the surface once more, in an incredible breach, the whale’s huge body shooting vertically out of the water more than halfway before crashing down on its side.

Seeing these ocean giants so close is exhilirating, their size and grace never failing to take your breath away. And we got some fantastic photos for you to enjoy!

Tags: Cetacean research, Humpback whales, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, nyuli reef

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: May 12 2009 | By: gvikenya

Between nauseous stomachs, blazing sun and turbulent waters, Shafii spots our first and only sighting of the day. With the boat bobbing up and down like a yo-yo and Kate calling out “dolphin, dolphin!” everyone rushed to one side of the boat to catch their look at the sighting. The unique nicks on the dorsal fin gave the game up straight away, it was the infamous Chizi, a familiar bottlenose dolphin for our research team, swimming along on a lazy Monday morning in its world under the sea.

‘Chizi’, a bottlenose dolphin is a very distinctive individual with the pattern of nicks on the trailing edge of its dorsal fin

One other tourist dhow full of extended lenses and safari hats nearly capsized their boat trying to photograph the lonesome Chizi. We spotted Chizi just off the east side of Kisite Island travelling along by itself, which was unusual as this individual he is not normally seen solo! The sighting lasted approx 10 minutes and in that time Chizi was not in a playful mood, no peduncle dives or cheeky tail flips in sight. Chizi means ‘crazy’ in Swahili however the dolphin was not living up to its name on this particular sighting.

After Andy captured some good photos and Chizi had been down for a while we decided to end the sighting and return to the rolling waters and samosa time! This has been GVI’s second sighting of Chizi this expedition.

Tags: bottlenose dolphin, dolphin behaviour, dolphin research, kisite mpunguti marine protected area

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: Apr 27 2009 | By: gvikenya

Jon “JR” Olson is a U.S Naval Attache based in Helsinki.  He has come to the south coast of kenya for two weeks to join GVI in its marine research project in the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area.  He has kindly written this blog about his first day as part of the research team.

The 0530 alarm went off next to my head and, at first, I forgot where I was.  Then, the heat and humidity of the early Kenyan coastal morning kicked in as I peeled off the sheet from my sweating body.  While some would be put off by this rather uncomfortable fact, I, personally, felt exhilarated as this was to be my first official day working as a member of the dolphin research project in the Kisite Mpunguti Marine Protected Area.

By 0600 I was showered, had organized by personal snorkel gear, camera, sunscreen, some additional clothes, etc, and was in the kitchen eating a quick breakfast.  I was the new guy and had to prove to the GVI veterans I could contribute to this project.  Contribution started with me helping to fix breakfast, cleaning up the kitchen area afterwards, packing the equipment for the day, etc.  By 0630 our group of nine people was hauling the gear down to the water and loading up SQUIRREL, our shuttle boat.  A few minutes later we were motoring our way across the Wasini Channel bound for Shimoni Village and our moored research boat known as BARDAN.  After transferring our gear to BARDAN, we got underway on our search for dolphins and other marine life.

Within minutes of starting out, we spotted our first pod of bottlenose dolphins, right in the middle of the Wasini Channel.  We spent 45 minutes following a pod of seven dolphins as they transited west down the channel.  We took dozens of photographs, logged the entire event, and ended the sighting around 0745.  BARDAN then turned east and we headed out into deeper water destined for Kisite Island by way of Funzi Bay.  We motored slowly under cloudy skies, which, on this particular morning, considering my still pasty white flesh, was OK with me.  The conditions were absolutely perfect for searching the seas for pods of dolphin and other marine species.  And, as luck would have it, while transiting south from Funzi Bay, we spooked a large surfacing turtle which promptly inhaled deeply and rapidly dove back into the deep.

Photograph showing a bottlenose dolphin feeding on a turtle

Some two hours after we departed Shimoni, we arrived in the channel area of the Kisite Mpunguti islands.   It was not long before we spotted a small group of tourist dive boats and we set course for those boats as it was likely they would be accompanied by some type of marine life.  Once again, we were lucky and as we arrived in the vicinity of the tourist boats, we spotted a number of pairs of bottlenose dolphins, all of them engaged in socializing behaviors, and possibly some feeding.  We tracked these pairs of dolphins using cameras, the event and sighting logs, and maintained contact for approximately 30 minutes.  The dolphins then disappeared and we began making our way toward our snorkeling destination near Kisite Island where we would snorkel a defined path, known as a transect, in search of more turtles.
Once in the water, which, to me, feels like bath water because it is so warm, we started our transect and were not disappointed after sighting three turtles, two of which we were able to specifically classify as Green Turtles. 

A bottlenose dolphin with scars that are believed to be the result of a shark attack

Once back in the boat at the end of our snorkel phase, we logged the information on the turtles in the Mega Fauna log and then proceeded back to the northeast, heading back to base for lunch and afternoon of data entry into the computers and some time spent correlating dolphin photos with individual dolphins.  It was amazing to me to see the truly distinctive dorsal fin marks on each of the local, or resident, bottlenose dolphins listed in the photographic data base.  After expert tutelage by GVI intern Karen, I was able to quickly identify a number of dolphins in the data base with photos taken by other research teams, providing much needed data for GVI to inform the Kenya Wildlife Service about key aspects of dolphin behavior.  This information will allow KWS to develop better policies for protecting the Marine Protected Area, which will, in turn, protect the bottlenose dolphins habitat.

As I finish this blog, I realize it is almost 10PM and I have to get up again shortly after 0500 tomorrow morning.  I get to do it all over again!  I can’t wait!

Tags: bottlenose dolphin, Cetacean research, funzi, green turtle, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, marine protected areas, mkwiro, shimoni, turtle

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Category: Dugongs, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: Jan 30 2009 | By: gvikenya

This week has undoubtedly belonged to our marine research crew aboard ‘Lampard’… and they saved the best to last. A few blogs back I wrote about our highlight of 2008, possibly of our entire research programme that begun in January 2006, our first observation of the endangered dugong, and the first confirmed sighting on Kenya’s south coast in, we believe, a decade.The excitement at the time was incredible, an exceptionally rare experience that we didn’t think we’d ever have - well I’m only too happy to report that the excitement is no less the second time around. This morning as the research boat travelled from Kisite Island to Lower Mpunguti Island, within the marine protected area, a large mammal surfaced just metres in front of the boat. Just like the first time, everyone on board remained cautious and scanned the ocean for confirmation. It came as a tourist dhow approached, again causing the large brown mammal to surface quickly in front of its bow, but clear enough for a confirmed sighting of a dugong, this time inside the marine protected area. The chart below indicates the two sightings:

There wasn’t time to get photos and we have no way of knowing whether it was the same individual that we sighted in November last year, but this does not diminish the significance of today’s events. What is almost certainly Kenya’s rarest mammal may well be returning to the south coast; clearly one individual is a long way from indicating a recovery, but it’s reason enough for now not to give up hope.

Tags: Dugong, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, marine research

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Uncategorized, bush baby | Date: Jan 30 2009 | By: gvikenya

So the last blog was all about going out in search of the wildlife… today’s is more about the wildlife coming to us. I mentioned before that we had discovered the night time raiders of our bananas; a pair of short-eared bush babies (or short eared galagos as they should be referred to).

Provisionally named ‘Bushy’ and ‘Fishy’ - I know it doesn’t seem overly original but we’re not being quite as obvious as it seems… they’re named in honour of Ekens, our former national scholarship programme student from Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute, and then intern, who has been battling to recovery from an accident four months ago. He loves the bush… and fish! We know he’ll be as excited as we are to have the forest wildlife sharing our office and home…

Tags: bottlenose dolphin, bush baby, code of conduct, dolphin calf, dolphin tourism, galago, kisite mpunguti marine protected area

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