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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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. The main problem was chumming and the knowledge of the boat captain about keeping the vessel up with the fish school.

Figure 9: Sardines caught from the beach to be used as livebait - Poor circulation in the tank make them short-lived in captivity

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KEY FINDINGS AND OVERALL OBSERVATIONS Lamu Island has an estimate of 2,600 hard working fishers who do both reef fishing and deep sea fishing. However unlike Maldives, they have different period (season) for the main target species (Table 1).

Table 1. Fishing Seasons and type of fishing caught at (KIUNGA) Lamu area (North Coast), Kenya

Gears Fish Caught Nov-Feb (Northeast Monsoon) Seine and cast Nets Rabbitfish, scavengers, parrotfish, goatfish, blackskin, blackskin snappers, surgeonfish, mackerel, sardines Line Scavengers, caranx, barracuda, rockcod, bonito, tuna, marlin, sailfish, sharks Gillnets and Shark Nets Mullet, rabbitfish, mtumbuu, scavengers, caranx, rockcod, bonito, tuna, kingfish, marlin, rays, barracuda, songoro, lobster, tazanda, fute, sharks Wire trap Rabbitfish, rays and skates, silverfish, tazanda, mashepwa, lobster Lobster pots, Divers Lobster

March-April (Calm sea) Traps, Line and Gillnets Catches Similar to Nov-Feb May-August (South West Monsoon) Minimal fishing with all gears

Lamu artisanal fishers have hardly developed their fishing operation from that of a subsistence nature to a commercial status. Main factors that contribute to the transformation of fishery could be lack of technological development and insufficient investments to the sector. It has also been noticed that the waters around Lamu and Kenya are open coastline, providing only limited shelters, sheltered creeks, estuaries and bays.

Environment The marine environment was very similar to the Maldives, however, due to a lack of coral reefs around it might be difficult to predict the species and abundance of live bait available in the area.

With observation and from the knowledge of fishers, bait species such as anchovy, bigeye scads and Indian mackerel are available in the area. Hence, it could be concluded that there may be other species of live bait available in the area, which may be used for pole-and-line fishing. Species of bait, abundance and seasonality must be further studied and researched.

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With our trial trips we have identified following species of baits: 1. Anchovies 2. Sardine Blue / Green BIBOSA 3. Lutijanus flaviflamma 4. Green Oyena 5. Hemiramphus far 6. Trigger Fish

Vessel Vessels used for fishing in Lamu are not technologically equipped for pole-and-line skipjack fishing. It appears that it may be very difficult, if not impossible, to adapt the current design of the vessels to become pole-and-line vessels. Hence, they need better fishing vessels suitable for their local marine environment. It is quite possible that the Maldivian design will be suitable for the environment. Lamu area is distinctly marked with rough weather and the rainy season lasts for about 4-5 months, which may have to be factored into the design of the boat.

Fish Abundance With the observation from Maldivian Keyolhu and the seabird activity, we can assume that there is an abundance of fish available to harvest. It may be worth deploying an anchored Fish Aggregating Device (aFAD) just 10 miles from the shore. Further field research is needed to verify this minimal observation time at sea.

Finally viability of large scale skipjack pole-and-line tuna fishing can only be determined following more research on the availability of bait. However, it is certain that tuna fishing already adopted by Fuvamula fishers can be immediately replicated in Lamu area.

Also looking at the species of bait such as big eye scads, Indian mackerel and triggerfish we can assume that is commercial scale hand-line yellowfin tuna fishery is possible.

Future plan - Acquiring Maldivian style pole-and-line tuna vessels with appropriate technology. They already have some amount of finance and they have people who can do fiber work. So, it would be easier to buy a mould from the Maldives and fabricate it in Lamu. - Conduct bait fish research - Visit Maldives to get hands on experience on livebait pole-and-line fishing.

Mr. Shikami and his team are already planning a one-week learning trip to Maldives. However, that may not be an adequate amount of time for them to learn enough about pole-and-line tuna fishing. If possible it would be wise for at least 3 Kenyan fishers to spend a month or two in the Maldives joining and taking part in pole-and-line fishing trips in the Maldives.

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Table 2. List of Participants who attended the meetings and took part in the pole-and-line fishing trials on Lamu. Name Location Designation Hon. Atwaa Salim Lamu County Minister Muthalib Hussain Maldives Master Fisher Mohamed Muthalib Maldives Expert – INPLF Coordinator Elizabeth Mueni Mombasa County Fisheries Officer Kennedy Shikami Mombasa County Fisheries Officer Julius Garama Mombasa County Administrator Benrick Ogutu Mombasa County Fisheries Officer Simon Losepicho Mombasa County Fisheries Officer

Apollo Milton Mombasa County Public Relations Rophus Mandi Mombasa County Boat Builder James Gonda Mombasa County Research Officer Simon Komu Lamu County County Director of Fisheries Ali Mohosin Lamu County Fisheries Officer Stephen Ndegwa Mombasa County Fisheries Officer Nyanje Masha Mombasa County Driver Almubarak Athuman Mombasa County Research Officer Jabir Areef Lamu County Tuna Fisher Yahya Mohamed Idarus Lamu County Tuna Fisher Ali Mohamed Ali Lamu County Tuna Fisher

Somo M. Somo Lamu County Tuna Fisher Athman Mohamed Kiwayu-Lamu County Tuna Fisher Makame M. Ndalu Kawle County Tuna Fisher Hamda M. Bori Kwale County Tuna Fisher Bwana Mbwana Kiwayu-Lamu County Tuna Fisher Khalid Said Kilfi County Tuna Fisher Swaleh Yahya Lamu County Tuna Fisher Omar Shaffi Lamu County Tuna Fisher Aziza Abdhalla Lamu County Lamu-BMU Chair Lady Ahmad Abdhalla Lamu County Boat Captain / Engineer

CONCLUSION The low catch of Lamu is mainly due to lack of sufficient investment, technology and fishing vessels and methods. To change fishing to commercial operation more effective methods of fishing and the fishing vessels needs to be designed. It is obvious that Lamu fishers need equipped with larger fishing vessels and better technology, which can operate offshore.

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