Restore Corals for 400 Fisherfolks in Wasini

This report covers the period June to August 2017.

Green Tourism Summit 13 to 15th June 2017

The project was represented at the Annual Green Tourism Summit, a multi-stakeholder platform to inspire action towards a sustainable tourism sector in East Africa. It is a multi sectoral, multi stakeholder platform for learning and sharing knowledge on green and sustainable trends in tourism as well as global developments that impact on the industry.The theme this year was ‘Tourism and the SDG’s – Opportunities or Challenges‘. The Summit attracted participants from community-managed conservancies, tour operators, government officials and civil societies working in the tourism sector. Speakers were drawn from South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Kenya. Their were lesson drawn from the Summit including how to integrate sustainability into community tourism, managing challenges in community tourism, eco-rating of tourism facilities and how to market tourism facilities including the use of social media. The lessons learnt are being used to prepare a community tourism module and to develop a tourism strategy for the project.

Preparations For Coral Transplant

The period between June to September are not conducive for coral transplant owing to water turbulence. No corals were transplanted during this period. However, 87 coral discs have been made and two coral bed nurseries prepared. More coral discs and coral beds will be made in September 2017 and coral transplanting be done in October 2017.

In kind Contribution

The Kenya Coastal Development Programme donated a patrol boat to Wasini Beach Management Unit to enhance surveillance. This was in response to our plea for support to arrest illegal fishing within community-managed marine areas. The boat, with a capacity of 12 persons, is currently being used for patrol. A more comprehensive patrol programme is being developed for effective surveillance.

Donations

The project has so far received roughly USD 1800 out of the target USD 50,000. The in-kind support for the patrol boat covered USD 15,000 of our overall budget. We, however, still require funds to support the coral transplant to cover at least 3ha and strengthen Wasini island community managed marine tourism.