Villagers champion efforts to restore diminished coral reefs

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s diminishing coral reefs have been given a lifeline through an initiative involving local communities in Lindi Region. Coral reefs are essential food, shelter and spawning grounds for fish and other marine organisms.

A visit by The Citizen to Somanga North village in Kilwa District in Lindi Region recently reveals that while the world is worried about the loss of important sea-based species, a group of local fishermen is doing all that it can to save the coral reefs.

According to the villagers, the death of the coral reefs has led to a significant decrease in the amount of fish in they catch in their nightly forays into the sea, which has prompted their initiative.

Marine experts mention climate change, destructive fishing (use of dynamites), coastal development, and pollution as major factors that threaten the presence of coral reefs by more than 75 percent in Tanzania and around the world.

A Coral Reef Status Report 2017 notes that the Western Indian Ocean, where lies Tanzania’s coastline, contains 16 percent of the world’s coral reefs. The report further notes that the Indian Ocean Westside was thought to host the second peak of coral reef biodiversity globally.

It is understood that coral reef ecosystems underpin the marine economies of the countries in the region, Tanzania included, particularly in as far as fisheries and tourism sectors are concerned, and provide livelihood opportunities and incomes for local communities.

The arrival of The Citizen in Somanga village after about 243km drive from Dar es Salaam, is welcomed by a group of fishermen from the community who had united to encourage safe fishing while devising methods to restore the damaged corals.

Early in the morning on a Saturday, some members of Somanga North Coral Reef Restoration and Protection Group lead a journey to Mwamba Fisi - a one square kilometre coral reef area for a restoration exercise. Three motorboats had been hired for the three kilometre ride from the Indian Ocean coast at Somanga village. In the motorboat there are also some 240 small bricks on which to transplant the coral reefs.

Onboard, there is also a team of divers whose task is to plunge to a spotted area with coral reefs, harvest some and put in basins and then bring them to the motorboats. These corals are then transplanted on small bricks before they are relocated in the ocean ecosystem.

At Mwamba Fisi area, women remain on the boats to be on standby to receive coral reef seeds and plant them in the bricks with small holes. On each brick, three pieces of coral reefs are transplanted within a maximum of seven minutes, “This is because when taken out of their habitat (water), coral reefs die within seven minutes. This is according to our own research/experience.”

“We thought that these coral reefs have been growing on rocks and stones, so we devised a way to use cement bricks to create natural conditions for them to grow and already the results have been very positive,” explains the secretary of the group, Mr Saidi Chande.

So far since they started the restoration exercise in 2021 more than 2,500 coral reefs have been restored.

“At the moment we do not have the ability to spread this idea to other damaged areas, but this innovation can help our country become a role model especially at this time when climate change is threatening the existence of fisheries,” Mr Sande explains.

“If we have the opportunity to get more cement as well as our own motorboats and diving equipment, we will return our ocean to its former glory,” he says.

Bongoyo Island

The concern is not only for the residents of Somanga North. At Bongoyo Island, a 30 minutes ride by boat from the Slipway Centre in Dar es Salaam city, coral reef destruction can be vividly seen.

In this island, The Citizen’s investigation found that there were two main factors that were the source of rapidl destruction of the coral reefs. Like in Somanga, they include destructive fishing methods through the use of dynamites and climate change.

However, the residents claim that some large buildings and hotels in Dar es Salaam and other cities have been built using products made from coral reefs. This has led to the use of dangerous tools to harvest the raw materials...

“Many tourists have for many years been coming to dive and see the beauty and scenery of the rocks (coral reefs) and the way the water creatures live, but the use of dynamites has almost destroyed coral reefs,” says Juma Mustafa, a long-time fisherman on the island.

“Despite the fact that the government has largely controlled the use of dynamites and illegal fishing, there should be efforts to restore lost coral reefs because the ocean is also heating up due to climate change and fish catch is declining,” he adds.

What experts say?

What is being done by the villagers of Somanga has already attracted researchers from Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) who are conducting a participatory research on coral reef restoration and protection.

In looking for people to collaborate with in doing the research, they met the villagers who have since been at the forefront of the research that shows that Tanzania can lead in the restoration and protection of coral reefs. DUCE researchers are also using the 20-member Somanga North Group that comprises 13 women and 7 men (co-researchers) in other research projects, such as mangrove restoration and environmental protection.

The two experts, Dr Almas Mazigo and Dr Emiliana Mwita are studying the possibility of incorporating coral reef restoration and beach cleaning into school curricula.

According to Dr Mazigo, they are determined to help the fishing communities document what it is doing and design it as a curriculum and because the community has the knowledge and the technology it is easier for them to become trainers and innovators to others.

“This is a pilot project focusing on capacity building after which there will be training of trainers in other parts of the ocean. While what is done is their own initiative, we just help them put what they know already in a more systematic and logical way,” he said.

“We plan to help the community file a patent on their invention with the Business Registrations and Licensing Agency (BRELA) to protect the technology against intellectual property theft,” reveals Dr Mazigo.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that 99 percent of corals will be lost under 2°C of global heating.

Further the forecasts by an international team of environmental scientists indicate that the marine habitat ecosystems are likely to become “functionally degraded” by 2050 if the Paris Agreement goals are not met.

Coral reefs are one of the richest ecosystems on the planet, supporting an estimated quarter of all marine species.