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Many thanks to British
Airways who have selected WTW as a recipient for it's Communities &
Conservation award.
Since 1984
British Airways has offered assistance to community and conservation projects
around the world. Their aim is to support programmes in and around communities
that they fly to, focusing on the key themes of Education and Youth Development,
Sustainable Tourism, Environment, Heritage, and the support of staff-led
projects within these areas.
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Marine
Conservation Volunteer Program
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information sheets are intended to give a brief overview of
the Local
Ocean Trust’s marine conservation work, including our
“Watamu
Turtle Watch” program. This site will also provide
you with all you need to know about our volunteer
program - an invitation to help us in our marine
conservation efforts. |
| Mission statement
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"Local
Ocean Trust is a marine conservation organisation committed to
the protection of the Kenyan marine environment through
hands-on conservation, research, education, campaigning and
community development. The involvement of local communities is
an essential part of the project with the aim of making it
sustainable for the future."
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| Aim
For
stakeholders to embark on wise and sustainable
use of Kenyan marine resources and for sea turtle
populations, as an indicator species of marine health, to show
signs of recovery.
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Location Watamu
/ Malindi Marine Parks and Reserve (WMMPR) covers an area of
229 km2 and is part of a United
Nations Biosphere Reserve, that also includes the
Arabuko Sokoke coastal forest. The WMMPR protected areas
consist of two Marine Parks: Malindi (6 km2) in the
North, and Watamu (10km2) in the
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| South, both
contained within a Reserve that extends three and a half
nautical miles seaward and encompasses Mida Creek (32km2).
This
amounts to approximately 30kms of coastline, with a fringing
reef along its entirety, as well as numerous patch reefs. The
fringing reef forms several lagoons,
some of which are still rich in coral
and fish species. The Parks and Reserves provide an
important residing and feeding habitat for sea turtles,
while the 5km beach within Watamu Marine Park is a key turtle
nesting ground in the country. Mida Creek is a diverse and
rich ecosystem consisting of mangroves,
coral, crustacea, fish and turtles. The Creek is a crucial
breeding and developmental site for fish and turtle species. |
| Issues
The
Kenyan marine environment has been suffering from a range of
human related threats in recent years, most of which are
related to unsustainable levels of natural resource use and
destructive fishing practices. The lack of effective marine
management and resulting degradation of natural resources has
been felt most acutely by coastal communities.
The
inshore waters are being over-exploited, with fish catches
plummeting. There are too many fishermen using illegal and
destructive fishing methods. Illegal methods such as undersize
nets and poisons are prevalent coastwide; as well as
destructive methods related to commercial fishing such as
trawling and the aquarium trade. Marine
habitats are being destroyed by over-exploitation (eg.
mangrove cutting), destructive fishing practices (eg. poisons
and trawling), by pollution (especially plastics) and
uncontrolled development (eg. tourism industry). Endangered
species such as sea
turtles are being pushed towards extinction due to both
habitat destruction and regular capture and slaughter by
fishermen - despite being protected by Kenyan law. Impacts on
one species, or one component of a marine habitat, are having
many destructive knock-on effects on a variety of linked
marine ecosystems and their biodiversity.
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| Local
Ocean Trust (LOT) LOT
began its existence as a local turtle conservation project
called Watamu
Turtle Watch (WTW). WTW was formed in 1997 to continue
and further develop the marine turtle conservation efforts of
a local naturalist Barbara Simpson, which she had been
undertaking in the area since the 1970's. In
its first two years WTW focused its conservation efforts on
sea turtles in Watamu Marine Park and along the northern
shores of Mida Creek, with a related education program.
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Very
quickly Watamu Turtle Watch
came to realise that the survival of the marine turtles in
Watamu was intrinsically linked to the well being of the
surrounding marine environment and to the protection of
turtles across their migratory range. |
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Concerned
by the widespread degradation of the Kenyan marine
environment, and national exploitation of marine
turtles, WTW broadened its conservation efforts to encompass
these issues while maintaining a focus of its turtle
activities in the Watamu / Malindi area.
To
reflect this growth in the project WTW spawned a “big
brother”, the Local Ocean Trust,
in October 2002. LOT now undertakes the general marine
conservation work of WTW both locally and nationally. WTW
is retained as the LOT flagship
program, focusing
specifically on sea turtle conservation.
LOT
is a registered Charitable Trust,
which operates according to an approved constitution and is co-ordinated
by a committee of trustees. LOT works in close co-operation with
the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Fisheries Department, Kenya Marine
Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) and the Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation
Committee (KESCOM), of which it is a member.
The
project receives funding assistance from International Fund for
Animal Welfare, Fauna and Flora International (through the East
African Wildlife Society), Project Aware and KESCOM.
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