Artisanal fishery analysis within the Mpunguti Marine Reserve (Southern Kenya): Gear-based management towards sustainable strategies.

Abstract

The sustainable management of coral reef fisheries subjected to overfishing is challenged by the complex multi-species, multi-gear and poverty context of its artisanal fisheries. Worldwide coral degradation and overfishing are setting an increasing pressure to resource users and managers to reconsider current management practices and explore innovative strategies. This study was carried out in the Mpunguti Marine National Reserve, contiguous to the Kisite Marine National Park, a no-take coral reef fisheries closure, located off the south coast of Kenya in the Western Indian Ocean. We explored a gear based management approach by incorporating escape gaps (3 cm x 30cm) in traditional basket traps (malema) and comparing the catches with the traditional traps (controls). This gear based option exploits differences in selectivity among gear types to control catch composition, reduce the catch of juveniles and bycatch species, without compromising the fisherman's income. Of the 2060 fish sampled, we identified 93 species belonging to 26 families, during 213 sampling occasions. There was no significant difference in the total catch per unit effort (CPUE, kg/trap) between gated and traditional traps, but gated traps significantly (p <0.001) reduced the catch of non commercial fish (low-value, juveniles and narrow-bodied species). Moreover, for the most important local commercial species, the African white-spotted rabbitfish (Siganus sutor), the gated traps significantly increased the mean length of capture (by 13 %) and weight (by 32%) and decreased the proportion of catch under length at first maturity (Lmat) from 19.9% (traditional traps) to 3% (gated traps). Therefore, escape gaps did not reduce the catch of high value fish and decreased the catch of juveniles and narrow bodied coral reef herbivore species, increasing biodiversity, promoting sustainable practices and ecosystem health, without compromising fishermen's revenues.