CORDIO projects brief June 2015.pdf

CORDIO summary of projects and programmes – June 2015 

CORDIO East Africa is a research and conservation organisation focused on marine and coastal 

ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). We specialise in generating knowledge to find solutions 

that benefit both ecosystems and people. 

CORDIO’s priority areas of work are coral reefs, climate change, resilience, long term monitoring for 

impact assessment, artisanal fisheries, community based management approaches including fisheries 

co-‐management and Locally Managed Marine Areas, climate change adaptation and mitigation and 

endangered species protection. We choose coral reefs because they are the most biodiverse marine 

ecosystem, they are extremely vulnerable to global warming and they are a ubiquitous and substantial 

component of the marine environment in the WIO. 

Examples here illustrate CORDIO’s breadth of work to address its programme objectives. 

Coral reef and fisheries surveys in northern Cabo Delgado 

Assessing species diversity and coral reef health and status to provide current baselines for measuring 

conservation impacts in the future, provide data for marine spatial planning including Locally Managed 

Marine Areas and contribute to a regional database on coral reef biodiversity and resilience. 

Assessing sharks populations in the WIO 

Underwater surveys on reefs in 4 countries of the WIO found no sharks except for one site in northern 

Mozambique; in contrast sharks in Chagos were observed at all sites. With colleagues from Windsor 

University and the Zoological Society of London we are using satellite tags on tiger sharks to assess their 

movements and designed to raise awareness of shark conservation in the WIO 

http://www.zsl.org/conservation/habitats/marine-‐and-‐freshwater/indian-‐ocean-‐tigers 

. 

CORDIO East Africa, summary of projects and programmes, June 2015 

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Impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA) on fisheries in the WIO 

Through vulnerability analyses and modelling 

we are assessing the relative vulnerability of 

different artisanal fisheries to ocean 

acidification. 

Relative biomass of fishery categories landed 

in Kenya (2001-‐2010) presented in 7 OA 

vulnerability categories (1=most vulnerable, 

8=least vulnerable) 

Djibouti’s coastal survey of marine biodiversity 

Developing a Seascape Plan for the Djibouti 

Government based on coral reef biodiversity 

assessments, coastal habitats and secondary 

data compilation including fisheries, socio-economic 

needs and community perceptions. 

Endangered and Vulnerable species protection 

Through research and vulnerability analyses of grouper and rabbit fish 

spawning aggregations we are making specific recommendations for their 

management and have published. 

Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations in the Western Indian Ocean: Research for 

Management http://cordioea.net/publicationsimpact/ 

Conservation in practice 

Working with the Kenyan goverment to span sectors to address marine environmental management for 

example, by bringing environment, fisheries, wildlife and local planning together and helping fishing 

communities establish their own LMMAs. One key output is a publication on legislative guidelines for 

Locally Managed Marine Areas: http://cordioea.net/cordio-‐cop8-‐docs/#3 


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Building capacity and the next generation 

In Kenya we are developing and providing training in community-‐based methods for monitoring coral 

reefs for local fishing communities to assess their own marine resources and the impacts of co-management; 

we also provide training in governance including various aspects of fisheries co-management 

and ecological knowledge. 


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CORDIO projects brief June 2015.pdf

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