true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN REGION

Lamu Archipelago ISRA

118/125

Lamu Archipelago ISRA

Lamu Archipelago

Summary

Lamu Archipelago is located in northern Kenya. The area contains >65 islands separated by numerous mangrove-covered channels and estuaries. It is characterised by extensive mangrove stands surrounded by lagoons, seagrass beds, rocky areas, shallow fringing reefs, and submerged barrier reefs. The area overlaps with the Kiunga Marine National Reserve Key Biodiversity Area and with the Lamu-Kiunga Area Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area. Within the area there are: reproductive areas (Bluespotted Lagoon Ray Taeniura lymma).

Lamu Archipelago

Lamu Archipelago

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Lamu Archipelago is located on the northern Kenyan coast, in Lamu county near the border with Somalia. The archipelago contains ~65 islands separated by numerous mangrove-covered channels and estuaries (Olendo et al. 2019). The area is characterised by extensive mangrove stands surrounded by lagoons, seagrass beds, rocky areas, shallow fringing reefs, and submerged barrier reefs (Church & Obura 2006).

The area is influenced by monsoon winds. The southeast monsoon (March–October) brings strong winds and currents, while the northeast monsoon (November–March) is characterised by dry conditions, mild currents, and higher temperatures (Painter 2020).

The area overlaps with the Kiunga Marine National Reserve Key Biodiversity Area (KBA 2023) and with the Lamu-Kiunga Area Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area (EBSA) (CBD 2023). In addition, it overlaps with the Kiunga Marine National Reserve and with a Community Nature Reserve, the Pate Marine Community Conservancy.

This Important Shark and Ray Area is benthic and is delineated from inshore and surface waters (0 m) to 50 m based on the depth range of the Qualifying Species.

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C1 – REPRODUCTIVE AREAS

Lamu Archipelago is an important reproductive area for one ray species.

Between August and October 2022, 82 Bluespotted Lagoon Rays were reported in landings in Kiwayuu from artisanal fisheries operating in the area. Of these individuals, 45 measured 9.0–12.5 cm disc width (DW) which is close to the reported size-at-birth for the species (13–14 cm DW; Last et al. 2016) indicating the presence of neonates/young-of-the-year (YOY; N Wambiji unpubl. data 2023). In addition, neonates of this species were previously reported between January 2016–April 2017 as part of the Bycatch Assessment and Mitigation in the Western Indian Ocean Fisheries project (N Wambiji unpubl. data 2023) and between 2018–2019 (Wildlife Conservation Society unpubl. data 2020). This is the only area in Kenya where a large proportion of neonates have been recorded and between 2018–2019, this was the only place in Kenya where the species was observed during monitoring of artisanal landings.

Lamu Archipelago

SUBMIT A REQUEST

ISRA SPATIAL LAYER REQUEST

To make a request to download the ISRA Layer in either a GIS compatible Shapefile (.shp) or Google Earth compatible Keyhole Markup Language Zipped file (.kmz) please complete the following form. We will review your request and send the download details to you. We will endeavor to send you the requested files as soon as we can. However, please note that this is not an automated process, and before requests are responded to, they undergo internal review and authorization. As such, requests normally take 5–10 working days to process.

Should you have questions about the data or process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    * indicates required

    Industry or sector (*)

    Under the terms and conditions of our User License Agreement , full and appropriate acknowledgement is required in any materials and publications derived from the data (and copies should be sent to the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group through the contact form). For any publications making substantial use of the data, the ISRA welcomes the opportunity for co-authorship, collaboration, and to comment prior to publication.


    Furthermore, we need to know whether you are a commercial or non-commercial user. Non-commercial includes scientific research, education or conservation. Commercial is defined as follows: any use by, on behalf of, or to inform or assist the activities of a commercial entity (that operates ‘for profit’) or use by a non-profit for the purposes of revenue generation

    Type of use(*):

    Please specify which layer (ex. all layers, layers within a specific Region, layers within a Jurisdiction or a single ISRA): Purpose (*):

    Please provide a description of how you intend to use the ISRA GIS Dataset. The more details you provide, the faster we can respond to your request. We may require further clarification prior to providing access. (min. 100 characters – max 1,000 characters)



    File format request (*)

    By providing your personal data, you consent to its processing as described below. The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group will use the information you provide on this form to send the documents you requested. You can change your mind at any time by writing to the ISRA Data Coordinator www.sharkrayareas.org/contact. All personal details provided will be treated with respect. For any information you can visit our Privacy Policy.
    Please read the User License Agreement and ISRA Layer Metadata Description

    This form uses Google reCaptcha to reduce spam. Privacy - Terms