Marine & Coastal Management in the East Africa Region
The islands of the South West Indian Ocean and countries along the East Coast of Africa are especially dependent on their marine and coastal resources for their social, economic and ecological value. Fisheries management, better understanding of marine and coastal ecosystems, monitoring and control of illegal fishing, climate change impact monitoring and forecasting of extreme weather events are some of the main concerns. The Marine and Coastal Service for the East Africa region takes into consideration the biological and physical state and dynamics of the ocean, fishing grounds, marine ecosystems for the regional seas, coastal vulnerability, sea state forecasts thereby supporting marine and coastal management activities and adaptation measures.
The Mauritius Oceanography Institute is the lead institution for the Marine and Coastal Management Service for the East Africa region in a consortium consisting of the Tanzania Fisheries and Research Institute, the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Institut Halieutique des Sciences Marines of Madagascar, the Seychelles Meteorological Authority and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association.
The Oceanic and Coastal Components
The Marine and Coastal Management service for the East Africa region focuses on two components:
- The oceanic component which involves the consolidation of three applications, namely Monitoring and forecasting of Physical and Biological Oceanography variables, Fishing Zones Monitoring and Protection, and 3 Days Marine Weather Forecast. Read more.
- The coastal component consisting of the development of a Coastal Vulnerability Assessment which is intended to provide a critical mechanism to understand and explore specific ecosystem services through Coastal Vulnerability Index maps and the Coastal Ecosystem Mapping, Monitoring and Assessment.
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