Simon Trevor went back to the coast in the middle of March to film the ongoing story of Kuruwitu – the marine protected area originally set up by a group of local land owners and the local fishermen. Following on from his earlier report (which you can read in my previous post on this blog), he now has the following news for us:

“One set back was immediately explained to us. The Kuruwitu boat, which we had intended to use to film a patrol, had been turned over and as a result the engine was no longer functioning. Oh well.

Every time we look below the surface of the sea new events are happening as the underwater environment ‘comes back to life’.

This time Lesley Hannah [freelance Kenyan camerawoman working wih AEFF on marine cinematography] filmed baby Trigger Fish. The Trigger Fish is one of a number of creatures that kill and eat sea urchins. The sea urchins kill the coral so when the fish are over exploited the sea urchins proliferate and down comes the whole balanced ecosystem.

She filmed the dreaded Crown of Thorns starfish, a sinister looking creature covered in poisonous spines which is one of the main predators on coral.

Also filmed were the sellers of sea shells in Malindi [town 100km north of Mombasa], where there are usually hordes of tourists eager for a bargain. These traders buy many different marine animals from fishermen who have no idea the effect this has on their livelihoods. (There were masses of cowries, clams, helmet shells, conch shells, shark heads and the remains of many other creatures.)

If you take the Helmet Shells for example. These beautiful brilliant red creatures, sometimes larger than a tennis ball, eat sea urchins. So when they are removed the urchins multiply, the coral dies, there is nowhere for certain species of fish to lay their eggs, the young fish who use the coral to hide from predators have nowhere to hide and before long there are no new fish to take the place of those caught by fishermen. So the man who sells the shell to the trader for short term gain is destroying his own life. The tourist, who should perhaps know better, but probably doesn’t either, needs to be educated as well.

There’s so much we can teach people through our programs if we capture the information on film.

There was much excitement when I arrived as Lesley had just finished filming a spear fisherman diving outside the reef. It took some courage to go into the rough surging water and follow him down as he free dived with his homemade spear gun to a depth of fifteen metres. Spear gun fishing is illegal in Kenya but many local people practice it. The man Lesley filmed has been doing it for 25 years and is an ardent supporter of Kuruwitu.

Some people will not appreciate that we filmed this but we believe that it should be shown so that everyone can form their own opinion as to what is right and what is wrong. He fires his gun many times before he makes a strike. Then when he has three fish, with a total weight of around a kilo, he calls it a day. That is what he eats for that day, with a little left to sell. He has to live off this kind of fishing until such time as alternative ways of supporting himself are found. That is precisely what Kuruwitu will provide once their plans for tourism ventures mature and when the fish stocks inside the protected area spread out into the fishing areas.

Up to now this kind of spear gun fishing has not made much of a dent on the fish stocks but more and more people are becoming fishermen – of sorts – and so now the environmental balance is under threat from this kind of fishing too. Another good reason for the formation of marine reserves such as Kuruwitu.

We rounded up with hiring a plane and filming the coast from the air. This revealed graphically how much development has taken place along the coast and how much forest has been cut down to build hotels and residences.

Yesterday we went to Mida creek [near Watamu, north of Mombasa] with the idea of filming fishermen at work. However, as we set out on foot towards the creek, carrying cameras and all our equipment, the heavens opened and we had to beat a hasty retreat back to the camera car, where we consoled ourselves with a hot cup tea from our thermos.

With the skies clearing, we headed back and boarded a rickety dugout canoe. Dugout canoes are notorious for their lack of stability and it didn’t take me long to wonder how I was going to handle a movie camera from such an unstable platform. At the same moment - to my horror - I saw water rising rather fast in the bottom of the canoe. Our canoe-man cheerfully said he would start bailing soon but I insisted we return immediately because by then the water level was only an inch or two from the camera bags.

So that was the end of that episode. We plan to start again with a larger and more stable boat with no leaks.”
I have asked Simon to send us some photos so we can see images of all this action! He has promised to do so… watch this space…

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