Kenya
Section snippets
The Coastal and Marine Environment
The Kenya coast is slightly over 500 km long, between latitudes 1 and 5° S (Fig. 1). It forms the northern extreme of the tropical East African coast, which stretches another 3500 km south through Tanzania and Mozambique. Northwards, the Somali coastline extends a further 1500 km, with a transition from the warm water environments of the East Africa coast to the seasonal upwelling system of the Somali current. The Kenya coast is variously identified as part of the Somali Current Large Marine
Physical and Chemical Oceanography
The Kenya coast is bathed by waters of the East African Coastal Current (EACC), formed by the northward deflection of the Southern Equatorial Current when it hits the African mainland in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique. The EACC flows northwards throughout the year, accelerated during the SEM when reinforced by the prevailing winds to speeds of 0.5–0.75 m/s, and slower during the NEM when the monsoon winds blow counter to the current, at speeds of <0.25 m/s (Obura et al., 2000a). At
Major terrestrial habitats
Kenya's coastal plain is dominated by scrub-bush in the south, growing on ancient limestone rock and sedimentary deposits, and bushy grasslands in the north (UNEP, 1998). Historically, coastal forests were part of extensive networks of forests extending across East Africa to the Congo basin. The climatic regime, dominated by up to five dry months in the year, has been stable for up to 30 million years and has resulted in unique forest communities with high drought resilience and high levels of
Coral bleaching and global climate change
Coral reefs along the entire coast of Kenya suffered widespread bleaching and mortality of corals during the first half of 1998 (McClanahan et al., 2001; Obura, 1999) as part of the worldwide bleaching of corals following the 1997–98 El Niño (Wilkinson et al., 1999; Goreau et al., 2000). Sea surface temperature anomalies in March to June 1998 rose to 2°C above normal, unprecedented for the Kenya coast (Fig. 4, Obura et al., 2000a). Coral bleaching is one of the most dramatic environmental and
Management and Protective Measures
Kenya's legislation for protection of the marine environment goes back several decades to the 1960s and before, due to its strong commitment to protection of wildlife and natural habitats, and evidenced by the elaborate detail in the Fisheries Act on trout fishing and management. These laws reflected the dominant political reality at the time, which was of the inherited colonial legal structure and a newly-independent country borrowing strongly from colonial laws that emphasized control by the
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Cited by (54)
Nutrients and harmful algal blooms in Kenya's coastal and marine waters: A review
2023, Ocean and Coastal ManagementAssemblage structure and distribution of fish larvae on the North Kenya Banks during the Southeast Monsoon season
2021, Ocean and Coastal ManagementManaging emerging fisheries of the North Kenya Banks in the context of environmental change
2021, Ocean and Coastal ManagementTemporal trends of marine litter in a tropical recreational beach: A case study of Mkomani beach, Kenya
2021, Marine Pollution BulletinCitation Excerpt :Generally, litter was more abundant during SEM (mean: 0.439 ± 0.265 items m−2; weight: 6.223 ± 1.973 g m−2) compared to NEM (mean: 0.166 ± 0.005 items m−2; weight: 2.587 ± 0.937 g m−2) (Fig. 4a, b) indicating that more litter items were washed ashore during SEM. East African Coastal Currents (EACC) has a reinforced wind speed of 0.5–0.75 m/s during SEM compared to NEM where the monsoon wind blow counter to the current at a speed of <0.25 m/s (Obura, 2001). Foam fragments which are of interest due to their high toxicity were most abundant during both SEM and NEM (Fig. 4a, b).