WCA Partner Love The Oceans is launching a new Sustainable Fishing Project, the first initiative in the area!
Love The Oceans research over the last five years has shown a decline in the number of large herbivorous fish on their local reefs, which are crucial to maintaining a healthy reef system. This decline can be caused by various reasons, one of which is overexploitation. The most common fishing methods that contribute to overexploitation around Jangamo are spearfishing and gill-netting. Although spearfishing usually has little bycatch, the lack of boats, aversive weather conditions and shelf characteristics in Jangamo means the spearfishermen are limited to fishing on the large herbivorous of the shallow, local reefs. Furthermore, the standard long, unmanned nets of gill-netting are highly prone to bycatch of elasmobranchs, dolphins, whales and turtles and target the same vulnerable population of fish as the spearfishermen.
Love The Oceans will be working with the local fishing community to help transition from these unsustainable fishing methods to more sustainable fishing, such as kayak pole and line fishing.
Kayak fishing enables selective fishing, without bycatch, in deeper waters, allowing the fishermen to target piscivore fish. These fish are generally bigger in size, producing more meat for the consumer, and they prey on other herbivorous fish, which helps maintaining a natural balance in the ecosystem. Plus, kayaks will enable the fishermen to fish away from the reefs and give the fish population that inhabits there a chance to recover.
Would you like to get involved? Love The Oceans is looking for donations & companies to sponsor them both financially and with equipment.
Learn more about Love The Oceans and their Sustainable Fishing Project!
