Ali Idirisa Makame
Small pelagic fishes (SPFs) such as sardines and anchovies are a group of species that play important socio-ecological roles to coastal communities and marine ecosystems. They are characterized by small size (7-25 cm), rapid growth, large biomass, high reproduction rate, relatively short lifespans, and highly variable population dynamics (Sekadende et al., 2020). They have key socio-economic and ecological roles, occupying intermediate trophic levels, hence modulating population dynamics (Brochier et al., 2011). Besides, SPFs provide food security, livelihood support and economic stability for coastal communities, especially in East Africa (Jebri et al., 2020). In Kenya about 977 to 2096 mt (Kenya Fisheries Service (KeFS) Stat. Bull., 2017) are landed and support livelihoods of fisher communities. Landings of SPFs show large seasonal and inter-annual fluctuations (e.g., Bakun 2010; Teixeira et al., 2016). These fluctuations can have critical ecological and socio-economic consequences, such that understanding their underlying mechanisms and coping strategies by communities, is important for conservation and management policies.
Therefore, the main aims of the project will include. 1. Performing a retrospective analysis of fishery data and determine the intra-and interannual variability in landings. 2. To determine the species of SPLs harvested and their proportion in the landings including seasonal variation in the relative abundance of species in the catches and the Landed Catch Per Unit Effort (LCPUE). 3. Determine the life-history traits (fecundity, size at maturity, spawning seasons) of the most landed (fished) species of the SPF species. 4. Map geo-referenced fishing grounds and deriving the predictive models for potential fish zones. 5. Assessing and evaluating the relative influence of environmental variability (e.g. temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a, DO, nutrients) and fishing pressure (number of fishers, number of boats per day) on fluctuation and catch rates of SPFs.