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and Horrill, 1993. For coastal dwellers, fisheries are very important both as a source of food, supplying 90 of the animal protein they consume, and as a source of income, fishing often being their primary occupation. In
addition, coral reefs are one of the major tourist attractions. Coastal tourism brings foreign currency into the country and provides a livelihood for coastal people.
4.2 Type of datainformation gathered
Out of 189 references on coral reefs in Tanzania, approximately half are baseline studies which assess the condition of reefs. About one-quarter of them are review studies that give information on the importance,
utilisation, threats, degradation, and management of coral reefs or review baseline studies conducted by others. Some papers report observational studies other than baseline, e.g., concerning pollution, coral mining, or
ecotourism. Very few papers are based on experimental or applied studies.
4.2.1 Baseline Studies
Many years ago, a few baseline studies were conducted in Tanzania, which had limited geographical scope. The earliest studies were primarily taxonomic Ortmann, 1892; Werth, 1901; von Marenzeller, 1901; and Crossland
1902;1904, providing information about the presence of coral species in the area. Talbot 1965 described the coral structure and fish fauna of Tutia Reef, off Mafia Island. Hamilton 1975 and Hamilton and Brakel 1984
reported on the structure and coral species composition of four reefs near Kunduchi. i.e., Fungu Yasin which they incorrectly called Fungu Mkadya and the fringing reefs of Mbudya Island, Bongoyo Island and Ras Kankadya as
well as the fringing reefs of Ras Mbegani and the south-east side of Mafia Island.
Thereafter, there was a lull in such studies until recently when extensive baseline studies have been conducted by different groups in several locations. For example Frontier-Tanzania in Mafia Horrill and Ngoile, 1991, 1992;
Darwall and Choiseul, 1995, 1996, the Songo Songo Archipelago Darwall et al., 1994; Choiseul and Darwall, 1996; Darwall, 1996a,b; Darwall and Choiseul, 1996; Darwall et al., 1996a,b,c,d; Darwall et al., 1997; Hanaphy
and Muller, 1997 and Mtwara Guard, 1998; Guard et al., 1998a,b,c. These studies have provided substantial amounts of information on biological and resource use aspects of coral reefs as well as other marine resources.
In Tanga, recent baseline studies have been conducted under the Tanga Coastal Zone Conservation and Development Programme IUCN, 1993; Horrill and Kalombo, 1997a, b; Tanga Coastal Zone Conservation and
Development Programme, 1997.
In the Dar es Salaam area, Kamukuru 1997 conducted a baseline study on the fringing reefs of Bongoyo, Mbudya and Pangavini Islands. Ngowo 1999, Sekadende 1999, Wagner et al. 2000a and Wagner et al.
2000b reported information on habitat type percent cover of hard coral, soft coral, algae, seagrasses, rock, sand, etc., the coral genera present, and the abundance of fish and invertebrates on the landward and seaward sides of
Mbudya Island. In Zanzibar, baseline studies have been reported by Ngoile 1990, Horrill 1992, Horrill et al. 1994, Muhando 1998, Mbjije M.Sc. thesis, in preparation and Kuguru M.Sc. thesis, in preparation.
4.2.2 Other Observational Studies
