Bonn 25 April 2008 Last weekend saw three coastal villages in southern Kenya – Shimoni, Vanga and Majoreni – lead an inspiring celebration of the Year of the Dolphin programme for 2008.

Schoolchildren from 10 different primary schools, fishermen, tourist dhow operators, voluntary bodies, local chiefs and councillors, and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) all joined in to entertain and educate enthusiastic crowds who had gathered to show their commitment to dolphins as a symbol of a healthy environment.

The main commercial partner in Year of the Dolphin, TUI, organised the events under the leadership of TUI-Pollmans Special Executive Adulaziz Abdalla, who has a long track record of work for the conservation of Kenya’s natural heritage. CMS Executive Secretary Robert Hepworth was guest of honour. To start the celebrations, he launched a YoD Patrol boat, which he named Pombo (“The Dolphin”), using the traditional method of cracking a coconut on the new vessel. The boat will be jointly manned by KWS and community representatives, and will monitor both fishing and dolphin watching activities in the interests of sustainable fisheries and conservation. This will help implement the guidelines for dolphin watching published last year as part of the 2007 YoD events in Kenya.

Another highlight was the initiation of “Dolphin Clubs” based on 15 village schools along the Kenyan coast. These will focus on practical conservation activities, education and awareness raising amongst the student volunteers. Several of the new clubs paraded and joined local fishermen to give poetry, acrobatics, singing, drama and dancing performances in Shimoni and Majoreni. The Clubs are intended to be a permanent legacy of Year of the Dolphin. CMS Executive Secretary Robert Hepworth announced “pump-priming” grants of 10,000 Kenyan Shillings (about €100) to each of the 15 new Clubs. He called on other sponsors to match the grant and increase the capacity of the Clubs to act as environmental pioneers in their communities.

CMS are also negotiating to provide support for an innovative scheme to run in parallel in the coastal communities, to encourage fisherman to surrender environmentally harmful (eg small mesh) fishing nets in return for fishing gear that will be less harmful to marine wildlife including dolphins and turtles. This will help to conserve migratory species in a wildlife-rich area, centred on the Kisite Marine Park whose warden Yousuf Aden was one of the leading speakers during the weekend’s events.

Robert Hepworth congratulated the whole community for their “amazing commitment” to conservation, especially following a difficult period in Kenya’s history. He added “Your activities have pushed you into the Top 20 of global YoD activities and for me you are Number 1! Kenya has many friends and we want to see the tourists coming back here as soon as possible to provide an injection of resources. Wonderful wildlife watching opportunities await them on the Kenyan coast, as well as the chance to experience the tranquillity and friendliness of these villages”. Robert Hepworth promised to present a film and slides of the weekend’s events during the upcoming CMS reception at the CBD Conference in Bonn, to help spread the word that Kenya was at peace and ready for visitors. He also asked the local communities to try and spread the message across the nearby border to Tanzania, and develop joint activities for dolphin and other marine species conservation between the two countries."