Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya A preliminary investigation into the possibility of developing a pole-and-line fishery, 5-10th April 2015 Submitted by Mohamed Muththalib – Coordinator of IPNLF – Maldives May 2015 Revised June 2015 Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya April 2015 INTRODUCTION The International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF)’s Maldives division (IPNLF-Maldives) organized a trip to Kenya on request by the Mombasa Fisheries Department. The objective of the trip was to support a pole-and-line skipjack tuna fishing trial project being undertaken by Mombasa Fisheries Department and to identify ways IPNLF may assist implementation of this Project. A secondary objective was also to explore potential for pole-and-line fishing in Lamu area, Mombasa, Kenya. The project was a part of a coastal fishery development project started by the Department of Fisheries Mombasa 4 years ago. Fishers in Lamu visited Zanzibar to learn about pole-and-line skipjack fishing. Only a few local fishers fish for tuna in the offshore waters. Most fishers fish in coastal waters catching snappers, trevally, sailfish, cuttlefish, octopus, crab, lobsters, etc. Hence, they have named this project “Fishing Beyond the Reefs”. Figure 1: Manda airport looking from Lamu Island Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated 341 km (212 mi) by road northeast of Mombasa, it is the headquarters of Lamu County and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Lamu is Kenya's oldest continually inhabited town, and was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa, founded in 1370. Lamu has a population of about 100,000 with about 2,600 hard working fishers. Mr. Mohamed Muthalib, IPNLF Coordinator at IPNLF-Maldives, was accompanied by Mr. Hussain Muthalib, a Maldivian Master Fisher and Captain of Rankuri Dhoni, Gaafu Alifu Atoll; the trip lasted 9 days from 4th-14th April 2015. MAIN ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN ON THE TRIP Lamu (Kenya) Trip Report – April 2015 | IPNLF - Maldives 2 Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya April 2015 The activities on the trip were two fold: firstly, assistance was provided regarding planning and preparation of the vessel for pole-and-line fishing; and secondly some training was given on pole-and-line techniques followed by livebait fishing and pole-and- line fishing. For this exercise two fishers from beach management units of Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Mombasa and Lamu were selected. Key officials from each county and key boat owners from Lamu were also selected for the exercise. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN 5th April – Day 1 The team arrived in Lamu late afternoon, following a long overnight trip in Nairobi. Mr. Kennedy Shakimi and Ms. Elizabeth Moueni and their officials welcomed the IPNLF team. The team immediately set to work and went to see the vessel they had identified for trial activities. The boat hired and prepared for the exercise was a safari boat usually used for tourism purposes in Lamu. In order to modify the vessel for pole-and-line fishing, Mr. Shakimi and his team installed a 1,000-litre plastic tank and piping for water spray. Also installed was a small household pump for both water spraying and circulation of the livebait tank. They had bamboo poles, some of which were not straight. After the visit to the boat the Maldivian Keyolhu (Master Fisher, Mr. Hussain Muthalib) advised them to get a larger capacity pump (inlet 2 inch diameter) and straight bamboo poles. Figure 2: A dinghy transferring fishers to the vessel that was used in fishing trial April 6th - Day 2, Morning The day started with a seminar session at which the County Director for Lamu Mr. Simon Komu was a guest of honour. Twenty-nine members were present which included fishers and key officials from 5 different counties including Lamu. The session commenced with Lamu (Kenya) Trip Report – April 2015 | IPNLF - Maldives 3 Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya April 2015 a prayer followed by an introductory speech from Mr. Simon Komu, County Director of Fisheries. Figure 3: Inaugurating the meeting - Mr. Simon Komu with Hon. Atwaa Salim. According to Mr. Komu, this project started 4 years ago, stressing that this visit was important for Lamu and all counties along the coast of Kenya. The objective of the exercise was to understand techniques, technologies and the gears that can be used in their project “Fishing beyond the Reefs”. Lamu was chosen as a pilot site to carryout pole-and-line skipjack tuna fishing trials. If the trials are successful this process will be then be rolled out to other counties. Mr. Shikami and Miss. Elizabeth are two main architects of the newly developed fisheries project gave their remarks on the Project. They thanked Mr. John Burton, Chairman of IPNLF, Dr. M. Shiham Adam and Director of Science and the Maldives IPNLF, and for Mr. Hussain Sinan, Director, Ministry of Fisheries & Agriculture, Maldives for assisting them to organize this exercise so quickly. Miss. Elizabeth also highlighted their desire to get suitable vessels for pole-and-line fishing. The Minister of Lamu County, Mr. Atwa Salim Mohamed, expressed his thanks for the efforts of Shikami and team and also the IPNLF representatives for assisting them with a potentially life changing project for the local fishers and the county. He expressed his desire to be more involved in the project. Lamu (Kenya) Trip Report – April 2015 | IPNLF - Maldives 4 Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya April 2015 Figure 4: Minister of Lamu, Mr. Atwa Salim at the Seminar Session Mr. Atwa Salim explained their plan for the future development of the fisheries sector. According to the Minister a new port will be developed in the area, which may include additional facilities required to develop fisheries. IPNLF Coordinator, Mr. M. Muthalib gave a presentation about pole-and-line and livebait fishing in the Maldives. Also he presented 3 video clips on bait fishing and pole- and-line tuna fishing in the Maldives. Figure 5: IPNLF Coordinator Mohamed Muththalib with Hon. Atwa Salim Lamu (Kenya) Trip Report – April 2015 | IPNLF - Maldives 5 Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya April 2015 April 6th - Day 2, Afternoon The afternoon session started after lunch around 1500. Local Keyolhu Mr. Hussain led the session. He taught how to select poles and lines, how to knot lines on the poles and how to attach hooks to the lines. Figure 6: Learning to attach the fishing line on the pole April 7th – Day 3 The day started with changing the pipe line on the boat installed for spraying water. Also piping for the bait tank was changed and connected to a separate household pump to increase the water pressure for circulation. Maldivian Keyolhu (Captain) Mr. Hussain went to the shops to help select right size of the pipes and also reducers to increase the pressure of spraying water. Mr. Hussain then taught the fishers how to install the pipes. In the evening the team took all the fishers to Shellar Beach to teach the pole-and-line technique by using buoys as dummy fish. After two hours of training the team went looking for bait. The team tried a few locations with the knowledge of fishers and WWF Director Mr. Mike Lzava Olendo. Around 20:30 in the evening we advised the fishers to just keep the lights on to see if they can attract any livebait. However, upon return, after dinner, the fishers had switched off the lights and gone home. Figure 7: Practicing pole-and-line technique on the Sheller Beach, Lamu. Lamu (Kenya) Trip Report – April 2015 | IPNLF - Maldives 6 Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya April 2015 8th April - Day 4 Following the events of day 3, the team advised Mr. Shikami to gather everyone before starting work and assign a group leader and tasks to different fishers. In the morning fishers caught bait from the jetty area. Unfortunately, the baitfish caught were dead in around 1 and half hours. With additional effort they caught some more in the afternoon but again could not keep it alive. Later in the evening they decided to go out to catch bait using the knowledge of local fishers. Despite rough weather, they travelled to the fishing ground, which took 3 hours, but the sea was too shallow, a mere 3 meters of water. They kept lights on for only a few hours. When the moon came out in the clear night sky they switched off the generator and slept. In the morning instead of looking for bait they returned back to Lamu. Figure 8: Catching livebait on the beach area in Lamu Lots of sea birds were spotted on the livebait fishing trip and according to Mr. Hussain (local Keyolhu) they found 3 large schools of skipjack tuna in the evening between 1630 and 1830. The schools of fish were spotted within 10 miles from the coast. Unfortunately, local fishers have very little knowledge about the bait grounds and bait species. April 9th - Day 5 Fishers caught some bait in the evening and kept it alive but in the morning most of the bait was dead. So again, in the morning they caught around half a kilogram of bait and went out looking for fish. Lamu (Kenya) Trip Report – April 2015 | IPNLF - Maldives 7 Fishing Beyond the Reefs in Lamu, Kenya April 2015 April 10th - Day 6 They left around 8 am in the morning. A few fish schools were spotted but the bait was mostly dead. They were able to attract a school but couldn’t catch any fish on poles.