Wambiji Nina

• PhD
• Chief Research Officer at Mpala Research Centre

Devil rays (Mobula spp.) are caught in fisheries across the Indian Ocean, with reports of significant recent declines in catch and sightings. Globally, the few populations studied have extremely low population growth rates due to low fecundity and long reproductive cycles, making them highly vulnerable to overfishing. To allow for assessment of the...

While community-based fisheries management (CBFM) is promoted as a promising approach to achieving sustainable fisheries management, its inclusiveness is increasingly questioned in the literature. Studies that explore the inclusion of gender along other intersectional social identities in CBFM are scarce. This research gap may limit a comprehensive...

Ecological data are being opportunistically synthesised at unprecedented scales in response to the global biodiversity and climate crises. Such syntheses are often only possible through large-scale, international, multidisciplinary collaborations and provide important pathways for addressing urgent conservation questions. Although large collaborati...

Although women contribute substantially to the small-scale fisheries sector globally, in many countries there is a severe lack of gender-disaggregated data on fishing activities. This gender data gap hampers a comprehensive understanding of small-scale fisheries dynamics with implications for fisheries management and food security. In this study, w...

Climate change poses severe threats to coastal social-ecological systems (SES) worldwide. Recent calls recognize the importance of including Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) in research on climate change impacts. Yet studies that have attempted to weave ILK and scientific knowledge have seldom considered the gendered nature of climate change im...

Small-scale fisheries (SSF) have a significant contribution to economies of coastal countries, offering employment and healthy and affordable food for communities. Despite an increasing focus on SSFs worldwide, data and knowledge gaps still exist. Furthermore, SSF contribution to SDGs is neither known nor accounted for. Through the Fish2Sustainabil...

To achieve sustainable shark fisheries, it is key to understand not only the biological drivers and environmental consequences of overfishing, but also the social and economic drivers of fisher behavior. The extinction risk of sharks is highest in coastal tropical waters, where small‐scale fisheries are most prevalent. Small‐scale fisheries provide...

Taxonomic data are a scientific common. Unlike nomenclature, which has strong governance institutions, there are currently no generally accepted governance institutions for the compilation of taxonomic data into an accepted global list. This gap results in challenges for conservation, ecological research, policymaking, international trade, and othe...

Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa, Kenya and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Belgium co-hsted a hybrid meeting on knowledge sharing for ocean literacy (OL) in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. The overall aim of the meeting was to foster discussions that highlight best practices, experiences, and lessons lear...

The Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) (Klein et al. 2019) is a global database of marine biodiversity and associated environmental data, which provides critical information to researchers and policymakers worldwide. Ensuring the accuracy and consistency of the data in OBIS is essential for its usefulness and value, not only to the scient...

Approaches to marine conservation and management issues has often been limited to using scientific research to propose technical and policy interventions. However, communicating outputs as scientific publications and policy briefs has limited reach and impact for non-academic audiences. Art markets in Mombasa and Kilifi Counties in Kenya were sampl...

Celebrating the UN World Oceans day by enganging children and the link between science and art.

Comprehensive and timely data-sharing is essential for effective ocean governance. This institutional analysis investigates pervasive data-sharing barriers in Kenya and Tanzania, using a collective action perspective. Existing data-sharing rules and regulations are examined in respect to boundaries, contextuality and incentive structures, complianc...

Biological ocean science has a long history; it goes back millennia, whereas the related data services have emerged in the recent digital era of the past decades. To understand where we come from—and why data services are so important—we will start by taking you back to the rise in the study of marine biology—marine biodiversity—and its key players...

Billfish species (families Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae) are caught in artisanal, recreational, and commercial fisheries throughout the Western Indian Ocean region. However, data and information on the interactions among these fisheries and the ecology of billfish in the WIO are not well understood. Using an in-depth analysis of peer-reviewed articl...

Meiobenthos respond to variability in salinity gradients in estuarine habitats and are thus suitable organisms for ecological studies. The vertical and horizontal distribution of the meiofauna community structure of two major estuaries (Sabaki and Tana) on the north coast of Kenya were compared. The aim was to draw a meiofaunal dataset inventory of...

1. Shark catches are common in small-scale (artisanal) and recreational fisheries; the magnitudes of these catches remain poorly known and understudied, particularly in developing countries. Data from three sources were used to assess the composition of shark landings in these fisheries in Kenya: boat-based recreational fishery tagging 1987–2016; o...

1. Shark catches are common in small-scale (artisanal) and recreational fisheries; the magnitudes of these catches remain poorly known and understudied, particularly in developing countries. Data from three sources were used to assess the composition of shark landings in these fisheries in Kenya: boat-based recreational fishery tagging 1987–2016; o...

Background and aim Billfish are epipelagic marine predators facing increasing pressures such as overfishing and rising global temperatures. Overfishing is a major concern, as they are caught by industrial longline fishers targeting tuna. Billfish are targeted by multiple fishing sectors, which provides food, socio‐economic and cultural benefits. To...

Bottom trawling is a common fishing method that targets bottom-dwelling fisheries resources. It is non-selective and large amounts of by-catch are discarded, raising serious sustainability and ecosystem conservation concerns. In this study, a shallow-water bottom-trawl fishery was evaluated using logbook catch data between 2011 and 2019 and the spe...

Capture fisheries provide a critical source of protein and livelihood for Kenya’s coastal communities. Kenya's marine and coastal fisheries target a high diversity of species. As the coastal population increases, the level of fishing effort has also been increasing to meet the demand for fish. Up to date information on the status of key commercial...

A consensus among biologists has been growing in recent years for the development of a global list of accepted species (and other taxa). To date, much discussion has focused on visions for how such a list would benefit many scientific and societal disciplines. Less emphasis has been placed on understanding the many technical challenges of compiling...

Coral reefs face an increased number of environmental threats from anthropomorphic climate change and pollution from agriculture, industries and sewage. Because environmental changes lead to their compositional and functional shifts, coral reef microbial communities can serve as indicators of ecosystem impacts through development of rapid and inexp...

In 2011, several non-governmental and government agencies established the Kenya Marine Mammal Network (KMMN) to provide a platform for the consistent collection of data on marine mammals along the Kenyan coast, identify areas of importance and engage marine users and the general public in marine mammal conservation. Prior to the KMMN, relatively li...

Siganus species (rabbitfishes) are caught by artisanal fishers in Kenyan marine waters. The identification of recently captured rabbitfish species is based on colour patterns, but colours fade after death or during preservation, making species identification more difficult. Morphometric measurements and meristics are then useful in differentiating...

Marine mammals can play important ecological roles in aquatic ecosystems, and their presence can be key to community structure and function. Consequently, marine mammals are often considered indicators of ecosystem health and flagship species. Yet, historical population declines caused by exploitation, and additional current threats, such as climat...

In the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region, information and data on marine recreational fisheries (MRF) is lacking, which undermines efforts towards their sustainable development. Our paper reviews the challenges and opportunities for sustainably developing marine recreational fisheries in the WIO. We identified several challenges that are discussed...

Users of marine recreational and artisanal fisheries share a great interest in common resources, driving potential competitive interactions. In the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), limited information exists about these fisheries in particular for billfish species. The importance of billfish as a highly sought-after game fish species in recreational fis...

The possible impacts that climate change will have on soil water budget and specifically on deep percolation, runoff and soil water content have been investigated using HYDRUS, a methodology based on numerical modelling simulations of vertical water movement in a homogenous soil column on a flat surface. This study was carried out on four typical s...

The Baraka's whipray (Maculabatis ambigua) is a major constituent of small‐scale fisheries catch in the south‐western Indian Ocean. Despite this, little is known of its life‐history or exploitation status. We provide the first estimates of crucial life‐history parameters and the maximum intrinsic population growth rate rmax, using specimens collect...

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region is home to several species of billfish that are important ecologically as top predators and as a source of local livelihoods both within and outside the country's borders, thus targeted by multiple resource user groups. However, little attention has been paid to the characteristics of recreational and artisanal...

There is widespread consensus among climate scientists today that global climate change is real and has anthropogenic roots. Marine species, for example, are exposed to a large array of abiotic stressors, such as warming and ocean acidification, that are linked directly to anthropogenic climate change. The general view on whether natural population...

Until recently, the abundance and distribution of marine mammals in Kenya coastal waters was not well understood. Prior to 2011, research was mostly limited to a wide coastal aerial survey in 1996 conducted by the Kenya Wildlife Service, which reported the presence of 8 species of dolphin and whale. In 2011, in order to fill the data gaps, Global V...

Coral reefs face increased environmental threats from anthropomorphic climate change and pollution, from agriculture, industries and tourism. They are economically vital for many people worldwide, and harbour a fantastically diverse ecosystem, being the home for many species of fish and algae. Surprisingly little is known about the microbial commun...

Ringnet fishing began in the early 20th century and is practised worldwide, mainly to target nearshore pelagic species. The method was introduced to Kenya’s coastal waters by migrant fishers from Tanzania. However, the impacts of this fishing gear remain poorly assessed. We assessed the spatial distribution of ringnet fishing effort and its possibl...

The measurable impacts of small-scale fisheries on coastal marine ecosystems and vulnerable megafauna species (elasmobranchs, marine mammals and sea turtles) within them are largely unknown, particularly in developing countries. This study assesses megafauna catch and composition in handline, longline, bottom-set and drift gillnet fisheries of the...

Sustainable exploitation of fishery resources requires knowledge of the population dynamics of the target resources. Length-weight relationship and relative condition parameters were determined for nine teleost fish species, Calotomus carolinus (Valenciennes, 1835), Decapterus macrosoma (Bleeker, 1851), Lethrinus nebulosus (Forsskal, 1775), Lethrin...

This was a 5 minute presentation in a session I was co-chairing discussing data and lack of data to support conservation of species and habitats. WWF’s Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program (EFN) hosted its second global conference for alumni in Kuching, Malaysia from June 30 – July 1, 2018.

In developing regions, coastal communities are particularly dependent on small-scale fisheries for food security and income. However, information on the scale and impacts of small-scale fisheries on coastal marine ecosystems are frequently lacking. Large marine vertebrates (marine mammals, sea turtles and chondrichthyans) are often among the first...

This report provides an overview of data that are currently in the WIOFish database.

WIOFish is a database storing comprehensive fisheries information for eight countries of the western Indian Ocean (WIO). The project began in 1999 with the inclusion of five countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa. After morphing through two design changes and settling into a set format, Mauritius joined the project in 2...

The Kenya Coast is endowed with some of the world’s most valuable coastal and marine resources that not only support economic activities but also the livelihoods of the people. The resources include mangrove forests, estuaries and deltas, sand dunes, beaches, coral reefs, seagrass beds as well as pelagic habitats among others. These resources are e...

Data providers in the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) network are not just recording species occurrences, they are also recording sampling methodology details and measuring environmental and biotic variables. In order to make OBIS an effective data sharing platform, it needs to be able to store and exchange these data in such a way th...

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) aims to integrate smaller, isolated datasets into a larger, more comprehensive picture of life in our oceans. Therefore, OBIS provides a gateway to many datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been observed. The datasets within OBIS are contributed by a network of hundr...

Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in order to jumpstart the deployment of RV Mtafiti and thereby the advancement of marine science in the WIO region organized a training workshop funded by VLIR-UOS. The participants were drawn from the Western Indian Ocean countries

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) is the world’s most comprehensive online, open-access database of marine species distributions. OBIS grows with millions of new species observations every year. Contributions come from a network of hundreds of institutions, projects and individuals with common goals: to build a scientific knowledge...

The report collated and reviewed existing information on key commercial fisheries along the Kenyan coast, and conducted a risk assessment of the key commercial fisheries to identify potential priority species for stock assessment under the KCDP project

To ensure long-term sustainability of the littoral marine ecosystem for water-based management and aquaculture potential, it is necessary to quantify and project the effect of sea warming on the resident biota. This study evaluated the potential of an oyster Suitability Sites Occurrence Model (SSOM) to predict the status of littoral areas in the fu...

The economy of the Kenya coast is highly dependent on natural resources with both the rural and urban populations predominantly engaged in agriculture, tourism, fisheries and mining sectors. The natural resources related to the coastal and marine environments comprise highly productive and biologically diverse ecosystems, which, for a long time, ha...

The Malindi-Ungwana bay (latitudes 3o30′S and 2o30′S and longitudes 40o00′N and 41o 00′N) is an important fishing ground in Kenya, exploited by both commercial shallow water prawn trawlers and well as artisanal fishers. The prawn trawl fishery within the bay has been affected by conflicts due resources use concerns. To address some of the concerns,...

In 2013, the Government of Flanders donated its oceanographic research vessel (RV) Zeeleeuw (renamed RV Mtafiti, Swahili for ’Researcher’), to the Government of Kenya to advance marine scientific research in the West Indian Ocean (WIO) region. The Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), as a centre of excellence in marine sciences in...

Real-world problems can be formulated as distributed constraint satisfaction problems. Marine resources are subject to certain constraints relating to their physical design, their interactions and legal requirements. Decision making is a major problem since the resource management is distributed and threatened by socio economic activities and envir...

Abstract: Demand for freshwater is rising with factors, such as population growth, land use change and climate variations, rendering water availability in the future uncertain. Groundwater resources are being increasingly exploited to meet this growing demand. The aim of this study is to identify the influence of population growth induced by land u...

Salinization of coastal groundwater systems causes a severe deterioration both in amount and quality of fresh groundwater resources. To support the sustainable use and management of fresh groundwater, quantification and characterization of these coastal resources are important in view of the population growth anticipated in many African countries....

Introduction-The African Register of Marine Species (AfReMaS) is recently launched taxonomic database of marine species found along the African coasts. The database was originally developed as the Marine Species Database for Eastern Africa (MASDEA). It was extended thereafter to include species from the entire African coast. Currently it has 24,016...

Some aspects of reproductive biology and size distribution of three fish species from the family Siganidae landed along the Kenyan coast were studied. Study period was conducted in Shimoni and Malindi landing sites. A total of 2,086 fish from the Siganidae family ranging from 11.2- 40.2 cm total length (TL) and total weight (TW) 27-1145 g were rand...

Some aspects of reproductive biology and size distribution of three fish species from the family Siganidae landed along the Kenyan coast were studied. Study period was conducted in Shimoni and Malindi landing sites. A total of 2,086 fish from the Siganidae family ranging from 11.2- 40.2 cm total length (TL) and total weight (TW) 27-1145 g were rand...

Fish traps are responsible for the majority of reef fish captured around the world (Mahon & Hunte 2001). Traps are an efficient and cost-effective multi-species fishing gear used widely for harvesting crustaceans and finfish around the world (Recksiek et al. 1991). Fish traps usually retain most fish that enter resulting in high catch biodiversity...

The general status of Kenya’s inshore marine and coastal fish stocks remains uncertain due to inadequate information to form a reliable assessment of status. Understanding the current status and exploitation of key commercial fish stocks (target and bycatch species) and their vulnerability to overfishing is an important step in generating the basel...

Iodothyronine deiodinases play an important role in thyroid hormone regulation in vertebrates. The aim of this study was to clone type II (SgD2) and type III (SgD3) iodothyronine deiodinase cDNA from the goldlined spinefoot (Siganus guttatus) using 3 0 -and 5 0 -rapid ampli-fication of cDNA ends and then to assess their expression patterns in the l...

The aim of this study was to determine the involvement of neurohypophysial hormones in the diurnal patterns of the threespot wrasse Halichoeres trimaculatus, which is common in coral reefs and exhibits daily behavioral periodicity. Prohormone cDNAs of the neurohypophysial peptides, arginine vasotocin (AVT) and isotocin (IT), were cloned by 3'- and...

Collection of pearl oyster seed using artificial collectors is a critical step in the production of cultured pearls. This paper reports the seasonal abundance of macrofauna, which settled on spat collectors set to collect Pinctada margaritifera and Pteria penguin seed in shallow inshore areas at Kisite and Mombasa, Kenya. In both, settlement of mac...

Incidental catch in fishing gears is a serious, worldwide threat to marine megafauna (particularly sea turtles, sharks and marine mammals). In order to inform the implementationa of effective bycatch management strategies, an important first step is to conduct an assessment of the extent of this threat. In the southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) (from 0...

Incidental catch in fishing gears is a serious threat to marine megafauna (sea turtles, sharks and marine mammals) at the global scale. In order to manage this threat, it is critical to assess its extent, both spatially and quantitatively. In the southwest Indian Ocean (from 0 to 25°S, from eastern Africa to 60°E), there is a paucity of information...

The rabbitfishes (Pisces: Siganidae) have long been considered good candidates for aquaculture. Some biological attributes including morphometric relationships (length-length, length-weight) and condition factors of three siganids of the Western Indian Ocean were estimated over peak April-August monsoon season in Southcoast Kenya. Specimens were ca...

Collection of pearl oyster seed using artificial collectors is a critical step in the production of cultured pearls. This paper reports the seasonal abundance of macrofauna, which settled on spat collectors set to collect Pinctada margaritifera and Pteria penguin seed in shallow inshore areas at Kisite and Mombasa, Kenya. In both, settlement of mac...

Sponges are ubiquitous and prominent space occupiers and are often the dominant sessile invertebrates found on hard substrata in the marine benthic environment (Bell, 2002). They are sensitive to the quality of the environment, and are among those taxa, which can be used effectively to assess the well being of marine communities and ecosystems (Car...

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp. Classification within the order Decapoda depends on the structure of the gills and legs, and they way in which the larvae develop, giving rise to two suborders: Dendrobranchiata an...