How preserving marine environment starts from communities

TANZANIA: HAMIS Hamza Mchinya of Kigombe Coastal village in Muheza District and Abubakr Rashid Nundu of Mwarongo village in Tanga City are more than just chairmen of their Village Liaison Committees (VLCs); they are also committed to preserving the marine environment that supports their communities.

VLCs are grassroots organisations that work within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), by providing a participatory and representative platform for local communities to manage these vital ecosystems.

When the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) invited them to go into the sea with representatives from various community groups including students, women and religious leaders they experienced firsthand information on the extent of coral damage and the causes of declining fish catches.

WCS is currently implementing a 700-million-shilling project, ‘Bahari ni Urithi’ (The Sea is our heritage) to protect the Pemba Channel, a biodiversity hotspot and critical climate refuge for coral reefs that provide local livelihoods.

“Despite my experience as a fisherman, I never understood whether a coral is dead or alive or whether the sea grass is damaged,” Abubakr explained.

Hamza’s experience was eye-opening. “After the classes organised by WCS to introduce the project, we were given equipment to explore the seafloor.

Fishermen who could dive were provided with equipment to explore the seabed in community fishing areas and protected zones.

Those who couldn’t dive, including women, used special containers with glass bottoms to observe the underwater world from above,” he explains.

This introduction to the underwater world was a revelation for many people in these fishing villages. For them, the seabed was always a mystery.

Their livelihoods relied on the ocean, but their understanding of its depths was limited to diver stories.

According to Dr Johnson Mshana, Tanga WCS Regional Coordinator, the project involves communities from the beginning through Citizen Science and Experiential Learning.

This approach allows them to observe the situation firsthand and decide how to repair damage, increase fish stocks and improve their livelihoods.

Citizen Science engages the public as collaborators in scientific research, allowing them to collect data, interpret results and take action.

ALSO READ: Go, pick that ‘low hanging fruits’ in conservation

This approach is part of a larger movement toward open science and participatory democracy, which acknowledges the valuable knowledge that community members bring to the table.

WCS conducted a household survey that revealed significant declines in fish harvests over the last five years, with community members citing overfishing, illegal fishing practices and climate change as the primary causes.

WCS desired these community members, including women, to see the extent of the destruction, compare fishing stocks to other marine areas and make informed decisions.

Dr Mshana emphasises the significance of community empowerment in resource management, stating, “We have seen many co-management plans fail because communities were not empowered to make decisions.”

The project aims to change this by providing communities with the knowledge and tools to manage marine resources effectively.

Despite government-provided patrol boats, misuse issues, such as contraband transportation, highlight the need for effective management practices.

“Our goal is to guide the communities through experiential learning, including visits to pilot villages in Mkinga District where similar projects have been successful,” Dr Mshana says.

The next phase entails assisting villagers in developing their management plans for conserving and utilising sea resources.

He explains that they don’t make the plans for them; they teach them how to do it.

“They will create these plans and action plans themselves, while we will provide technical assistance and training. We are currently awaiting the results of village meetings, which will determine whether the project will be implemented,” he explains.

Dr Mshana emphasises that participation is voluntary, hoping that those who are initially hesitant will join after seeing the positive results in other villages.

He observes that many communities struggle to achieve their goals due to a lack of expertise in developing effective plans and objectives.

“Our project aims to demonstrate the best ways to work with communities, ensuring they can preserve their marine environment and improve their livelihoods,” says Gerald Temu, the project officer for the WCS.

During the survey results and experiential learning sessions, community members witnessed the actual state of the seabed for the first time.

They also mapped fishery patterns and incorporated indigenous knowledge into scientific research.

According to Temu, the maps have been integrated into Google Earth, enabling collaborative community research.

Community members visited pilot villages in Mkinga to see the tourism activities and infrastructure established as part of the WCS project.

They observed the MPA, BMU offices and a modern fish market to gain knowledge and inspiration for their communities.

The impacts of this approach are already being felt. According to Hamza, after touring the sea and WCS project villages in Mkinga District, Tanga villagers were convinced of the project’s critical role in repairing the damage and restoring sea harvests to normal.

“Three months after the project’s launch, fishermen can already report increased fish catches and the absence of illegal fishing activities.

Some have even turned over their illegal fishing nets and explosives to the Regional Commissioner, Ambassador Dr Batilda Buriani,” says Nundu.

Hamza, who displayed some of the illegal fishing tools in his Kigombe office, says the situation is gradually returning to normal.

“There was a time when if you were told your patient needed a piece of fish to survive, you would have nothing to say. There was just no fish,” he recalls.

Now, he claims, you can see fish near the beach because villagers have accepted the need to take action to conserve.

The two hope to replicate the success of the WCS project in Mkinga, where, according to Jumaa Abadallh Mwamdingi, the organisation has changed the mindsets and lives of young people in Moa village, where youths have formed groups to run restaurants and tourist guide services.

“The WCS has made us realise there is a life, after all, beyond fishing. The sea can also be a source of income through other activities that help to protect it,” says Juma Abdallah Mwamdingi, the Chairman of the Green Moa Group, which owns a beach restaurant and a garden with recreational equipment for children.

There is another similar group called Mwakizo.

All of them were formed before the WCS arrived to transform Moa into a verdant paradise.

By providing Tanga’s fishing communities with the tools and knowledge they need to manage their marine resources, the WCS project hopes to see a long-term increase in fish stocks and an overall improvement in the quality of life for these coastal communities.

Tanga’s fishing communities, through Citizen Science and Experiential Learning, are active participants in preserving marine life and securing their future livelihoods and not just passive beneficiaries.

Dr Jean Mensa, Director of the WCS Marine Program, says the work in Tanga is part of a larger project to strengthen communities and ecosystems across the Pemba Channel and to increase the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), including the Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park.

This initiative follows the successful completion of another project that supported the MPA authority in improving management effectiveness in Mkinga District and assisting communities in developing small-scale sustainable fisheries.

Dr Mensa explains that the project includes a variety of measures, such as mangrove and seagrass restoration and coastline protection, to achieve climate adaptation through natural means.