MARINE RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION 
Cultivating The Next Generation of Ocean Exploration: Advancing STEM Education! 

KEA plans to start an underwater robotics program as a tool to promote marine science and conservation in East Africa. Underwater robotics is an effective means of promoting STEM education. Beginning in 2016, KEA will lead a team of marine ecologists and students from California on an annual expedition as part of a Marine Science Short Course program to East Africa.  In this program they will spend three weeks running a workshop on Marine Ecology via Remote Observation. Students will build OpenROVs from scratch and design their own ROV-based research projects. 

The ROVs built during the course, as well as all supporting hardware, will remain in East African Schools after the course, as a permanent resource for students and ecologists. Underwater robotics (ROVs) provide a powerful platform for ocean exploration. OpenROV, based in Berkeley, California, creates inexpensive ocean exploration kits that are within the reach of even the most resource-limited organizations. Their innovative software package can allow students, instructors, and explorers to access and drive an OpenROV from anywhere that is internet-accessible. OpenROV seeks to harness human ingenuity and the desire for discovery needed to mold the next century of marine explorers.

 Of course, not all institutions have access to ocean-class oceanographic vessels or multi-millions of dollars. Nor are all research questions answered using the narrow limits of a conventional SCUBA diving system. And not everyone who wants to explore the oceans can swim. Therefore, OpenROV fills a critical equipment gap in marine science and conservation, particularly in regions with limited access to essential resources. Clearly, OpenROV is going to play a pivotal role in the next century of marine science, conservation, and exploration.
 

Testing Hardware at OpenROV Lab

Testing Hardware at OpenROV Lab

School-to-School-Partnerships: 
Connecting Students through Environmental Education      

Bringing together youth through environmental education is an important aspect of KEA’s mission. Thus, one of our primary initiatives is to connect schools in California with partnership schools in East Africa.  Our goal is to have students and teachers participate in cross-cultural and academic exchanges through project collaboration. These exchanges will include joint discussions on topics such as global climate change, marine ecology, and resource conservation. The means and level of these partnerships are to be determined by individual participating schools. Possibilities include remote collaborations via internet/multimedia communication or travel exchanges. Within the program, KEA will help develop a strong foundation in students which will engage them in global topics and extracurricular activities and allow them to share their projects and ideas.
With respect to public research endeavors, KEA maintains a close collaboration with relevant government institutions, local universities, as well as other institutions worldwide to help support and undertake applied research related to marine conservation in East Africa. KEA helps ocean conservation effort through public education and research, bringing attention of the issues for visitors, while imparting a fuller appreciation of the ecosystems that comprise and surround the ocean to local communities. These efforts are designed to instill a broader, more integrated appreciation of man’s connection with his environment. East Africa's coastal communities, like other indigenous peoples the world over, have since the dawn of history developed a large body of traditional ecological knowledge. 


specific ecosystems explored  will include

• Estuaries

• Mangrove Swamps
• Sandy Seashores and Sea grass Beds
• Rocky Cliffs and Reef Flats

• Coral Reefs
• Open Sea
• Wetlands and Swamps (including East Africa’s great lakes and rivers)

Coral Reef, Watamu, Kenya

Dolphins in open ocean, Zanzibar.

Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray

Whale Shark

Barracudas

Tana River Delta, Kenya is part of the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa and is regarded as a Hotspot for internationally important wildlife

Egrets, Tana Delta, Kenya