Fish breeding area chokes on litter

When Coast fisherman Juma Kombo found packages of mysterious grey powder washed up on the beach near his village, he thought it was foodstuff and took it home. Not long after, his family developed headaches, started sneezing, and experienced breathing problems.

The powder was giving off a strange smell like rat poison, he says, so he threw it down the toilet. But several other members of the remote community found similar packages. About a dozen in all, they say, within a 300-metre radius. Some they buried, but one or two they saved and took to the offices of Community Touch (CommTouch) a community-based organisation of 30 members that is committed to cleaning up the beach and ensuring sustainability for the area’s fishermen.

“This is part of what is depleting fish stocks,” says Mr Kombo of the powder and other waste that covers the shores of Tsunza village in Kinango Division of Kwale District.

Dugout canoe

The village of 6,000 people is surrounded by mangroves. Located about 15 kilometres from Mombasa, in the middle of Tsunza Creek, the village is difficult to get to, although so close to a major city. Residents have to take a dugout canoe or motorboat and then walk about half an hour to reach their homes.

Every day, the small boats are loaded with people, crates of vegetables, barrels of cooking oil, sacks of rice and maize meal. There is no other way to move these basic necessities to the community. On the opposite bank of the creek, the Kenya Ports Authority, oil refinery, a hospital and other major industries are housed.

The mangroves trap anything that is dumped from big ships or the industries across the creek. CommTouch director Juma Mashanga says syringes and other medical waste are common finds during the organisation’s beach cleanup days. “We don’t have the tools,” to handle or dispose of the waste safely, laments Saidi Shaban, a local fisherman and CommTouch member.

Mr Mashanga founded the small organisation two years ago. Currently, it works on beach cleanup and mangrove rehabilitation within about one kilometre of Tsunza village. CommTouch wants to expand its activities to be able to clean up all the beaches in the area, and even incorporate community tourism.

But the organisation, says Mr Mashanga, is currently run on the hard work and dedication of its volunteers alone. It doesn’t receive funding from the government or private donors, but will make some cash this year through sale of seedlings.

Mr Mashanga hopes to start “livelihood alternative” projects such as fish and crab farming, apiculture (beekeeping) and tourism. He says the less fishermen have to rely on wild stocks, the better off they will be. The drought has put an end to small-scale farming in the area, meaning the residents are now entirely dependent on the sea for survival.

But fish stocks are decreasing, says Mr Shaban, who has been fishing for 15 years. He says 10 years ago he’d be able to catch enough fish and prawns in one day to keep his family for 10 days and sell at the market. Now he is lucky to make Sh30 a catch, he says.

He acknowledges the effect over-fishing has had on the stocks, but adds he believes pollution and mangrove harvesting have harmed fish habitat. “There is a lot of degradation,” he says of the mangroves, which are essential areas for fish breeding. He explains fish like to swim into the mangrove swamp to lay eggs, which are then protected from predators.

The fisherman adds it is now common to find oysters covered in oily sludge and not harvestable. “Big boats come and then they dump everything,” agrees Mr Mashanga. On a tour of Tsunza’s mangrove and beach fishing areas, Daily Nation found garbage, plastic, cloth, broken glass, medical supplies and oily slicks on the sand and in the mangroves. Two large tankers were moored near the Port Authority, less than one kilometre away from the traditional fishing grounds.

“If they are throwing (waste), they don’t care about the adjacent communities,” says Mr Shaban. Part of the problem in this area is that three agencies are responsible for environmental regulation. The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) looks after the land, the Kenya Port Authority regulates ships in its specific area and the rest of the sea is the responsibility of the Kenya Maritime Authority.

Mr Stephen Katua, Nema’s deputy director of coastal marine issues, says he is aware of the dumping problem but has not heard anything specifically about the powder the villagers think may be toxic waste. While he says any pollution from ships is the responsibility of the Port Authority and the Maritime Authority, he indicates Mombasa Municipal Council should be regulating any pollution from land-based sources.

“Where Nema comes in, is when City Council is not playing their part,” he says. According to Mr Katua, Nema has already given Mombasa a warning about coastal pollution. He says if the council does not show some improvement by the end of October, Nema will consider taking it to court.

Tests on powder

“We will have to investigate,” he says. “Chemicals have a highly negative impact on marine life.” The Kenya Maritime Authority went to Tsunza to take a sample of the grey, smelly powder Mr Kombo found weeks ago. Mr Mashanga says CommTouch is now waiting for results of tests on the powder.

Mr Shaban says he hopes the relevant bodies will take an interest in Tsunza and “lay a trap” for those industries or individuals polluting the area. After all, there is only so much CommTouch can do. A well-organised list of duties on the wall of a small stone shack with a thatched roof in the middle of the hot, dry village shows the plans for the coming weeks.

There is a watering schedule for the seedlings, research responsibilities for starting up the livelihood projects and a schedule for the next beach cleanup day. But CommTouch members show the Nation areas they cleaned only two weeks ago and the beaches are already covered in debris. The organisation plans to have school children and tourists join them in subsequent cleanups, but it seems every time a piece of garbage or a smudge of oil is removed, the waves bring in more to take their place.