Navigating the sea space: the nature and significance of giriama indigenous knowledge on marine resources

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a study on indigenous knowledge and management systems of marine resources among the Giriama people of the Kenyan north coast and their intimate relationship with their environment, especially marine resources. The product of this relationship is a profound knowledge of the resources dependent on indigenous ecological knowledge of marine resources. This knowledge is distributed in the community based on age, gender and professional affinity to the resources. Thus, the community has evolved an elaborate system of knowledge of the natural world such as species distribution, diurnal changes in the behaviour of the sea, and wind movement. This knowledge is instrumental in regulation of activities in the sea, mangrove forests and around coral reefs. As a result their indigenous knowledge has become an aspect of everyday experience of the marine environment as it helps distinguish the objects of experience, together with their similarities and differences.