Diversity of Fishery Organisms and Their Contribution to The Community Sustainability of Kilifi Creek, Kenya

Fishery organisms are a source of food and income in local societies surrounding any water body. Investigations were carried out to study the diversity and distribution of fishery organisms of the Kilifi estuarine creek and their contribution to community sustainability. Sampling took place at Sea horse, Fumbini, Konjora, and Rare on the northern arm and at Nkoma, Mazioni, Fumbini, and Kombeni on the southern arm of the creek. All fishery organisms obtained were identified, counted and length dimensions taken. The 1444 prawns obtained were Fenneropenaeus indicus and Penaeus monodon while the 207 were four crab species Portunus armatus, Portunus sanguinolentus, Scylla serrata, and Thalamita crenata. F. indicus was the most abundant of the prawn species whereas P. armatus and S. serrata were caught at all study sites in smaller class sizes. 7,258 finfishes identified were 85 species belonging to 14 orders, 46 families. Biodiversity indices analysed showed that Margalef’s species richness index was highest (8.293) at Sea horse and lowest (3.874) at Rare. Pielou’s evenness was highest (0.7286) at Nkoma and lowest (0.5319) at Rare. Simpson’s diversity index was highest at Nkoma (0.8917) and lowest at Rare (0.6672). Bray-Curtis similarity grouped all fishes into three ecosystems, open sea waters, the mudflats, and river channels. The most abundant finfish species were Leiognathus equula (20.17 %) followed by Mugil cephalus (17.64%), Gerres filamentosus (10.25%), and Pomadasys multimaculatum (7.37%). Most abundant finfish species and crustaceans were in small class sizes hence for local consumption by communities around the creek