Welcome to the ASCLME Project
Over the next five years, the nine countries of the western Indian Ocean region, including Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania, will work together through the Agulhas and Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystems (ASCLME) Project.
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Agulhas Current Large Marine Ecosystem |
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The ACLME lies off the southeastern margin of the African continent and includes the continental shelf areas of South Africa, Mozambique, the Comoros Islands, the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius. The narrow, swift and strong Agulhas current flows southwestwards, down the east coast of Africa (the Agulhas current proper only forms in the southernmost part of the Mozambique channel). The region’s mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs reflect high degrees of biodiversity, but with improved fishing methods, greater numbers and varieties of marine organisms are being exploited. As a consequence, fish stocks are shrinking and several species face potential extinction. The ACLME also faces pressure from urbanisation, industrialisation and tourism. You may be interested in reading our summary of what is known about the oceanography of the region.
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 "The organisation of this meeting was superb. The logistics that go into pulling a meeting like this together never happen by accident.
The mood of participants was extremely upbeat, supportive and encouraging. You can always tell the way a meeting is going by the tone of the questions and the questions raised during this meeting tended to be overwhelmingly constructive and well informed.
This project has made more headway in its first year of operation than any other project I’ve ever been associated with. What makes it particularly impressive is that this is unquestionably the most complex and arguably the most difficult project to come to grips with. The physical scope of the project not only covers a number of ecosystems, but a diverse array of languages and a broad array of socio-economic conditions. But if the collective tone of this meeting is an indication of how the rest of the project will go, everybody has reason to be optimistic and anticipate an outcome that we can all be proud of."
David La Roche, Consultant to the ASCLME Project on the 2nd Steering Committee Meeting.
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