Distribution and Status of Coastal Habitats and Resources

The most important coastal habitats, such as mangroves, coral reefs, estuaries, important bird areas and turtle nesting sites in Tanzania have been described and mapped. Mapping of seagrass beds is still pending. Fishery is the first parameter to be considered in case of gas and oil spills or any other pollutant along the Tanzania coast. Detailed introduction to fisheries and associated resources has been provided. The location of important fishing grounds (demersal, small and large pelagic, prawn fishing grounds, trawlable and non trawlable areas and fish aggregations) have been described and mapped. Fin-fish resources (demersal fish, small and large pelagics, etc) as well as lobsters, octopus, shelled molluscs have been described. The distribution and or sighting of Important non-fishery resources, sometimes so called charismatic species such as dolphins, coelacanths, dugongs, turtles, sharks whales has been described and mapped. Information on coastal infrastructure, e.g., fish landing sites and facilities, as well as tourist attractions and/or facilities, e.g. historical sites, dives sites, sport fishing sites and coastal Hotels/Resorts have been listed and/or mapped. The location of Oil and gas exploration or extraction sites have been described and mapped (to approximate locations). The important ocean currents which influence the coastal waters of Tanzania, i.e. South Equatorial Current (SEC), the East Africa Coastal Current (EACC), and the Equatorial Counter Current (ECC) have been mapped, for both southeast and northeast monsoons. While the main water circulation pattern is fairly known, there is knowledge gap in shallow water circulation patterns, especially the reversing tidal currents. Knowledge on hydrography is extremely important in managing oil spills and other pollution disasters along the Tanzania coast. To allow for easy access to specific habitat or resource information or map, detailed descriptions are provided in separate pages as appendices. The appendices are formatted in such a way that they can be accessed separately from the main document (Table 2). The coastline of the United Republic of Tanzania and its adjacent intertidal and subtidal habitats form the back-borne of various social and economic activities of coastal communities. Most of the fisheries resources (specifically demersal fish stocks) in mangroves, coral reefs, and sea grass beds occur in the inshore (shallow) waters. The highest primary productivity occurs in the shallow waters, mainly because of synergistic effects of benthic and water column productivity and high rates of nutrient recycling from re-suspension of sediments. These vast resources and biodiversity in these near shore zones support …