Hellen Kizenga

Institute of Marine Sciences of the University of Dar es Salaam

Rivers and estuaries are regarded as major pathways of microplastic (MP) transport from terrestrial areas to marine ecosystems. Despite this knowledge on the transport dynamics and fate of MP in freshwater riverine and brackish estuarine waters is limited. Via ex situ settling experiments emulating the Msimbazi River and Estuary in Dar es-Salaam, T...

Rivers and estuaries are major pathways of microplastic (MP) from terrestrial areas to marine ecosystems. Despite this, knowledge on the transport dynamics and fate of MPs in riverine and estuarine waters is limited, but crucial in order to mitigate the problem and to close the mass balance of plastic debris in the oceans. Via ex situ laboratory se...

Marine small-scale fisheries are complex social and ecological systems that are currently pressurised by climate change, increasing demand for food, and expectation to sustain livelihoods. Species diversification and occupational diversification are often offered as adaptation strategies to increase the resilience of these fisheries to natural and...

Advances in satellite remote sensing of environmental perturbations have become important in understanding variations of ocean productivity and small pelagic fish catches. This marine resource is vital for coastal populations dependent on artisanal fishing for their income and food security, such as in coastal East Africa. In this region, the easte...

Under the impact of natural and anthropogenic climate variability, upwelling systems are known to change their properties leading to associated regime shifts in marine ecosystems. These often impact commercial fisheries and societies dependent on them. In a region where in situ hydrographic and biological marine data are scarce, this study uses a c...

Small pelagic fisheries provide food security, livelihood support and economic stability for East African coastal communities—a region of least developed countries. Using remotely- sensed and field observations together with modelling, we address the biophysical drivers of this important resource. We show that annual variations of fisheries yield p...

Small pelagic fish, including anchovies, sardines and sardinellas, mackerels, capelin, hilsa, sprats and herrings, are distributed widely, from the tropics to the far north Atlantic Ocean and to the southern oceans off Chile and South Africa. They are most abundant in the highly productive major eastern boundary upwelling systems and are characteri...