Fisheries Monitoring Capacity, KAMAMKUKI JCMA
With funding from Blue Ventures Conservation, Oceans Alive is strengthening fisheries monitoring and co-management across five Beach Management Units.
Kilifi County
Kuruwitu, Kanamai and Mtwapa BMUs
Mombasa County
Marina and Kidongo BMUs
Together these five Beach Management Units manage roughly 304 square kilometres of coastal and marine waters within Kenya's territorial sea, alongside the Kenya Fisheries Service and their respective county governments.
Why It Matters
Reliable Data for a Resource Under Pressure
The JCMA faces a familiar set of pressures: destructive and illegal fishing, declining fish stocks, habitat degradation, weak enforcement, and thin institutional capacity within the co-management bodies meant to hold the line.
The response is built around governance and institutional development, fisheries catch and ecological monitoring, compliance strengthening, financial resilience for fishing households, and community food security, delivered under Kenya's Fisheries Management and Development Act No. 35 of 2016. Delivery combines ongoing fisheries data collection, community resource surveys, data feedback sessions, compliance assessments, exchange visits, stakeholder engagement and technical partnerships, aimed at systems that keep working long after the project ends.
Project Phases
Building the System in Two Stages
October 2024 to September 2025
Diagnosed and closed governance and institutional capacity gaps across all five BMUs, and stood up a fisheries catch monitoring system at ten landing sites within the JCMA.
December 2025 to November 2026
Adds structured BMU governance mentorship, peer learning between BMUs, Village Savings and Loan Associations for financial resilience, and deeper fisheries and ecological monitoring.
Collaboration
One Table, Five BMUs and Their Governments
Oceans Alive and Blue Ventures work closely with the five BMUs, the KAMAMKUKI Joint Co-Management Area Committee, national and county government institutions, and research organisations. The aim is a stronger, better coordinated co-management system: capable BMUs, reliable fisheries information, improved compliance, greater community financial resilience, and partnerships built to last beyond the project itself.
Help Strengthen Fisheries Governance
Your support helps BMUs monitor and manage shared fisheries resources for the long term.