Mosquito Net Use in an Artisanal East African Fishery

Widespread, anecdotal reports of the use of bed nets designed for malaria control (“mosquito nets”) in artisanal fisheries have led to concern from health and natural resource management sectors. However, mosquito net fishing (MNF) may play an important role in the livelihoods of artisanal fishers, an aspect not yet investigated. At a coastal Kenyan site among Giriama fishers, nearly half of homesteads interviewed used mosquito nets as fishing gear, targeting juvenile fish and prawns for subsistence and sale. The majority of mosquito net (MN) fishers here were men, suggesting that the assumption that MNF is a female activity is not valid in this case. However, MN use for fishing at this site is unlikely to impact malaria protection as fishers used old or surplus nets. Respondents perceived both positive aspects of MNF (e.g., food and income) and negative aspects (e.g., impact on fishery). As mosquito nets are widely available, they may enable new entrants to access fisheries. There is a critical need to review current management responses, which predominately focus on banning the practice, and instead promote integrated strategies for sustainable livelihoods

Cetacean rapid assessment : an approach to fill knowledge gaps and target conservation across large data deficient areas

The work was funded by the Pew Marine Fellows Program and WCS.1. Many species and populations of marine megafauna are undergoing substantial declines, while many are also very poorly understood. Even basic information on species presence is unknown for tens of thousands of kilometres of coastline, particularly in the developing world, which is a major hurdle to their conservation. 2. Rapid ecological assessment is a valuable tool used to identify and prioritize areas for conservation; however, this approach has never been clearly applied to marine cetaceans. Here a rapid assessment protocol is outlined that will generate broad‐scale, quantitative, baseline data on cetacean communities and potential threats, that can be conducted rapidly and cost-effectively across whole countries, or regions. 3. The rapid assessment was conducted in Tanzania, East Africa, and integrated collection of data on cetaceans from visual, acoustic, and interview surveys with existing information from multiple sources, to provide low resolution data on cetacean community relative abundance, diversity, and threats. Four principal threats were evaluated and compared spatially using a qualitative scale: cetacean mortality in fishing gear (particularly gillnets); cetacean hunting, consumption or use by humans; shipping related collision risk and noise disturbance; and dynamite fishing. 4. Ninety‐one groups of 11 species of marine mammal were detected during field surveys. Potentially the most important area for cetaceans was the Pemba Channel, a deep, high‐current waterway between Pemba Island and mainland Africa, where by far the highest relative cetacean diversity and high relative abundance were recorded, but which is also subject to threats from fishing. 5. A rapid assessment approach can be applied in data deficient areas to quickly provide information on cetaceans that can be used by governments and managers for marine spatial planning, management of developments, and to target research activities into the most important locations.PostprintPeer reviewe

Policy brief climate change and livestock production in Tanzania

Tanzania ranks third in terms of number of livestock in Africa, and the sector has a good contribution to the national economy. It is estimated to have about 19.2 million cattle, 13.7 million goats, 3.6 million sheep, 1.9 million pigs and 36 million local chickens and 23 million improved chickens (URT, 2010). The livestock industry contributed 4.6 % of the National Gross Domestic product in 2012. Given the large number of livestock and the abundant land and forage resources the country is endowed with, the contribution of the livestock sector to the growth of the national economy, food security and poverty reduction can be substantial. Climate Change is change in the state of the climate that can be identified (i.e. by statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period typically decades or longer Approximately 95% of ruminant livestock in Tanzania are kept under traditional production systems depending mostly on pastures and crop residues as the main feed sources. Therefore, at the household level, livestock keeping is an important and integral part of agriculture based livelihoods for a significant proportion of the Tanzania population. Tanzania, like other countries of which many economic sectors are climate dependent, has been impacted significantly by climate change. In this regard, efforts must be done to address adapt to the impacts associated by climate change in pastoral and agro-pastoral landsPrintUnited Nation Development Programm

Production and consumption responses to policy interventions in Tanzania's dairy industry

The study uses a partial equilibrium model of Tanzania’s informal dairy value chain to determine the benefits to milk producers and consumers from three policy interventions proposed in the Tanzania Livestock Modernization Initiative (TLMI). Using aggregate time series data to simulate the model, the study finds that from an individual policy perspective, expanding the national herd would produce the largest benefits for producers and consumers; producers would gain over 550 million shillings annually and consumers would gain about 35 shillings per capita. Comparing the other two interventions, consumers would benefit more from a better regulatory environment than from a reduction in cow prices, while producers would benefit more from a reduction in cow prices than from better regulations. If all policies are implemented simultaneously, even greater benefits would be realised; consumer surplus would increase by 85 shillings annually and producer surplus would increase by over one billion shillings in real terms. The results suggest that policy interventions outlined in the TLMI that address supply constraints are critical to developing the country’s dairy industry