Small-scale Mariculture Along the Kenyan Coast and Environmental Implications

Small-scale mariculture along the Kenyan coast is vital for improving livelihoods, food security, nutrition and biodiversity conservation. However, its growth faces challenges related to environmental sustainability, management, and regulatory compliance. The study sort to understand the underlying environmental concerns of small scale mariculture along the coast of Kenya to inform further mariculture development. Face to face questionnaire interviews were conducted on practitioners, researchers and government officers in five coastal counties. The findings indicated that most farms (94%) use semi-intensive methods. Most of the farming is undertaken in groups (98.21%) while a small proportion (1.79%) operate individually. The farming operations utilize intertidal ponds (62%), floating cages (12%) and off-bottom bottom methods in seaweed farming (12%). The study found that 60% of respondents lacked a water management system in the farm thus leading to discharge of water to nearby environments (29%), 14% recycled wastes through inbuilt systems, 6% used waste in compositing. Disease outbreaks had been reported by 29.27% of the farms and yet there was no appropriate control measures in place. According to 44.4% of the respondents, broken equipment or material was dumped in nearby common dumping places, 20% buried them while 17.8 burnt the material or equipment. The environmental interactions of mariculture systems are evident, with 59% of farms situated near mangrove forests and 18% near seagrass beds. Licensing and regulatory compliance are relatively strong, with 75% of farmers holding necessary permits, although variability in costs and renewal frequencies presents significant challenges. The results is a wakeup call to develop and strengthen policies that govern mariculture management in addition to promotion of sustainable practices and best management practices for small scale aquatic food systems production. Further, there is need for trainings and awareness creation on the need for responsible aquaculture development.