Schools to the Sea

‘Schools to the Sea’ is an education project that will enable young people to experience the wonders of the marine environment for the first time in their lives. Thousands of young people in the low-income Kongowea area of Mombasa live within a few kilometres of the Indian Ocean yet have rarely visited it and have little awareness of the wonders it contains. At the same time important stakeholders- hotels, diving schools, educational charities and environmental organisations are realising that good environmental management requires the co-operation and active involvement of all members of the community. The project will raise awareness and develop understanding through a series of coral reef visits, snorkeling trips, mangrove expeditions and beach clean-ups. ‘Schools to the Sea’ will work with children from some of the poorest communities in Kenya.

The provision of free primary education in Kenya has enabled more children to attend school than ever before. At the same time it is also placing significant pressure on existing educational resources. Government Primary Schools now have class sizes of between 100 and 130 students. A number of community schools which were set up before the introduction of free education play a very important role in provide cheap education in an over stretched system. Both of these types of schools lack teaching and learning resources and access to educational outings. This project will provide first time experiences for so many of the teachers and the young people involved. ‘Schools to the Sea’ is a 5-year education project that will enable 1300 young people to experience the wonders of the marine environment for the first time in their lives with the aim to raise awareness of the marine environment among young people from poorer communities in Mombasa.
The three main objectives of the project can be summarized as follows:

Objective 1.
To run a programme of events to give local young people access to the marine environment: These events will include snorkelling trips, mangrove tours and beach clean-ups. This will give students direct access to the marine environment and will act as a springboard for school based follow up activities.

Objective 2.
To promote an awareness of man’s complex relationships with the marine ecosystem: Many young people and their families rely on fishing and marine resources for their livelihoods. It is therefore essential to open an honest and democratic discussion about this question. If the sustainability of the marine environment is of utmost importance, this will only be achieved by including all communities.

Objective 3.
To develop a wide range of supplementary and follow up educational activities and resources: To maximize the educational impact, students and teachers will take part in a series of supplementary activities. Teachers and volunteers will prepare the students in their classrooms in the week leading up to the event. On the day itself, art activities and games will enable students to investigate the environment in many different ways. Then after the event teachers will be given lesson plans and resources to further enhance the experience through creative writing and homework.

Schools to the Sea is a project that has three main collaborating partners who all support the project and make it possible. CORDIO East Africa supplies an Education Officer who coordinates the logistics and prepares the schools and students for the upcoming trips. Assist a Child to School (ACTS) coordinates the schools and aids in the general logistics leading up to the trip. Buccaneer Diving provides the glass bottom boat, pre-trip lecture and staffing for the day. They also host the beach clean-up following a trip. However, this project would not have been possible without the sponsorship of PADI Project AWARE.


Artificial Reef Project

Buccaneer Diving is currently involved in the planning and organization of a second artificial reef project within the Mombasa Marine Park. Together with Bamburi Cement (who have sponsored the manufacture of the artificial reef structures), CORDIO-East Africa (who will sponsor the training required to monitor the artificial reef) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS-who are to monitor the artificial reef project) Buccaneer Diving hopes that this project will become an attraction to divers and snorkellers alike. The designated sites in the park and reserve have depths between 4-8m making the artificial reef structures within everybody’s limits.

The Mombasa Marine Park Artificial Reef Project aims to deploy 150-200 artificial reef modules within the Mombasa Marine Park. These artificial reef modules are expected to increase the fish biomass by offering shelter and offer substrate for areas with signs of coral degradation. It is expected that the diversity of site will also be enhanced by attracting new species of fish and corals to the area. The “new” artificial reef would create new destinations for scuba divers and glass bottom boat snorkellers alike, thus supporting the tourism industry. In addition, the artificial reefs may enhance fish populations in local areas and could be of benefit to the local fishing industry. A detailed monitoring scheme is to be established with a comparable artificial reef outside the marine park to act as a comparison. The artificial reef structures will improve the user value of coral reefs in the Mombasa area by enhancing their attraction to recreational users such as divers, thus supporting the tourism industry. In addition, the artificial reefs may enhance fish populations in local areas and could be of benefit to the local fishing industry.

 

Sea Turtle Project

Worldwide sea turtles are an endangered species and in Kenya they are also protected by national law. It is illegal to hunt or kill sea turtles and also to trade in sea turtle products. Severe penalties exist if caught engaging in either of these activities. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) are responsible for patrolling the beaches and maintaining the security of the sea turtles. Furthermore, there are also numerous organizations devoted to the conservation of sea turtles and one example of such an organization here in Kenya is the Watamu Turtle Watch (http://www.watamuturtles.com/ ), another is the Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee (KESCOM), who operate a sea turtle sighting network in Mombasa. Buccaneer Diving also strongly supports sea turtle conservation and has designed a specialty course aimed at sea turtle conservation. The course is entitled Sea Turtle Diver.
The PADI approved Sea Turtle Diver Specialty course consists of one academic session and two dives. The theory outlines the life history of sea turtles, the various species of sea turtles, the life cycle of sea turtles and the numerous threats that sea turtles face. This finishes with a glimpse of the various conservation measures in place to protect the sea turtles .During the dives divers will be taught to identify sea turtles both at a species level and on an individual level using distinguishing characteristics. To record all these sightings the diver can either use a slate to draw, sketch or make notes, use a camera to capture an image of the turtle (and to further enhance the database), or a combination of the two. For each sea turtle sighted a sighting sheet will be completed and added to the sea turtle database (and passed on to the Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee-KESCOM). Upon successful completion of the course one is issued with a certification card from PADI stating “Sea Turtle Diver”.

WSPA and UniquEco Flip-Flop Project

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has recently launched a new project that will raise awareness of the threats to whales and other marine species. To raise this awareness WSPA have teamed up with UniquEco to construct a life-size Minke Whale. UniquEco has been set up to promote eco-business initiatives across Eastern Africa. One of its main projects is the Flip flop Project piloted in northern Kenya. The flip-flop is the most basic footwear for so many in the world, yet every day hundreds of these brightly coloured, non-degradable pieces of rubber wash up on beaches around the globe, blighting the coastlines and the lives of local inhabitants and ecology. Yet on the northern coast of East Africa there is a remarkable solution to this man-made problem. Here the local women and children have been encouraged to collect this washed up rubbish that arrives from as far afield as Japan, Indonesia,Malaysia and China. The villagers have been trained to turn this rubbish into saleable products such as animal sculptures, children’s mobiles and elaborate bags.
It is hard to believe that a simple flip-flop can be transformed from environmentally damaging waste into eye-catching glamour using only human creativity. It is with the above in mind that WSPA approached UniquEco to make a life-size minke whale from discarded flip flops washed ashore. This life-size Minke whale will promote the awareness of threats to whales, re-emphasize the need for recycling and portray the flotsam and jetsam littering Kenya's beaches. In turn Schools to the Sea were approached to aid with the clean-up of some of the beaches and collect flip flops for this WSPA project. Schools to the Sea, supplied 22 school students and sponsored the transportation to Watamu (1.5 hours North of Mombasa) and logistics for the clean up together with Watamu Turtle Watch. Furthermore, the students from Mombasa were taken on a mangrove board walk on the way home to show them mangroves and the surrounding environment. Twenty six big bags of flip flops were collected during this venture.