The Marine environment along the east coast of Africa provides habitat for a plethora of incredible, rare and vulnerable mega marine animals. Our marine conservation project is situated in Tofo beach, in the Inhambane province of Mozambique. This coastal region is a truly unique global biodiversity hotspot under threat from plastic debris, overfishing, population growth and the global temperature crisis.
Our ultimate goal is in providing long-term data to researchers in order to better understand the changes that are occurring to the animal populations along this stretch of coastline. These projects are to inform better conservation actions. The actions range from national and international communications, governmental legislature and local awareness and education programs.
By acquiring the listed equipment, we can contribute with data and research to answer many questions about marine megafauna still standing. Especially contributing to global photo-ID datasets, tracking movement patterns, and monitoring cleaning stations with bias of divers' presence are important uses of the camera station. With the soundtrap we are hoping to assess if acoustics can be used as an alternative to eDNA, and create international collaborations in studying whale song.
Output from the Marine Research Center includes long term monitoring of marine life and environmental impacts of the area to support conservation efforts, whether nation-wide fishing laws or local temporary reef closures and local awareness. The proposed equipment allow us to continue our long term data collection, and even start up new valuable projects and global collaboration. Research output will be used towards enforcement of of code of conduct in tourism and fishing.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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