Kenya’s coast is facing rapid degradation as population growth and poverty have contributed to increases in the number of small-scale fishers. This has, in turn, placed great strain on fish stocks along the coast, resulting in the over-exploitation of fisheries resources. As a result, the fishers are yielding less and less from the ocean, not helped by the increase in destructive fishing techniques. 

At Pelorus Foundation, we are committed to breaking this cycle, and acting now before we’re faced with the catastrophic socio-environmental impact of this growing imbalance.

Working with our local grassroots project partners, Oceans Alive, we’re supporting the scale of innovative and holistic scalable solutions that can be implemented by other communities along the Kenyan coast. For over 20 years, Oceans Alive have been working towards creating a ground-breaking community led marine protected area (MPA), located in Kuruwitu.

The scope of the project is huge, from developing a coral restoration programme, building a community garden and developing alternative sources of income to those most reliant on the ocean. The task of creating all of this from scratch is, of course, no mean feat which is why we are supporting Ocean’s Alive in the development of a sharable ‘toolkit’ to support other communities implement similar projects. Essentially, our aim is to catalyse coastal conservation in Kenya, reinvigorating innovative and holistic approaches that have been proven successful.

In their words: “Over the years, we have listened, thought, experimented, learned, and developed this locally-led model. Our locally led approach at Kuruwitu has already led to a 30% recovery in corals, a 17% restoration of seagrass, and a 400% increase in biomass just a few years after closure”.