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: 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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