Coastal ecosystems including coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses provide nutrition and livelihoods for Kenyan coastal communities who are predominantly small-scale fishers (SSF). The increasing demand for fish and other marine resources and the low capacity for management has resulted in overexploitation and degraded ecosystems. Overfishing and destructive fishing and the impacts of climate change exacerbates this challenge. The governance of small-scale fisheries in Kenya has also undergone a transformation towards co-management through the Beach Management Units (BMU) regulations.

The co-management approach has the potential to provide positive ecological, social, cultural, economic and political outcomes. Potential benefits include livelihood and biodiversity sustainability, reduced conflicts and management costs, resolution of land tenure and access issues, and increased stewardship of biodiversity. However, although the BMU regulations empower BMUs to manage their fishing grounds, the capacity of communities to take on this new role is limited. In particular, SSF communities' ability to monitor and track their fishing activities (catch and incomes) has been shown to be an important limiting factor for effective co-management.

WCS and ABALOBI ICT4Fisheries are currently leading a project on SSF management in one coastal community in the Diani-Chale marine reserve within the proposed Trans-Boundary Conservation Area (TBCA) between southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The project addresses the primary challenge of low management capacity of the SSF communities in Kenya. The project aims to empower a community to collect fisheries and income data through smartphone technology to inform their management and business decisions. The project thus contributes to maintaining the critical ecosystems of the Kenyan coast and ensuring sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities.

Learn more about the project by reading this factsheet.
Learn more about WCS' work in small-scale fisheries here.