This research programme, which spanned Kenya, Seychelles and Zanzibar, was initiated because to study the potential impact of increasing fishing pressure on the stock status and health of spawning aggregations. The overall goal of the research was to address critical information gaps and develop robust scientific approaches for the management and conservation of commercially important species that aggregate to spawn in the WIO.

The research results are detailed in a book published in 2013 (WIOMSA-CORDIO spawning book full), and demonstrated the feasibility of using basic information from spawning aggregation-based fisheries to systematically evaluate management needs in data-poor contexts. This was achieved through a conceptual approach  that involved estimation of key aggregation and fishery parameters and the application of those parameters in a vulnerability assessment and a no take reserve (NTR) model for spawning aggregations.

Conservation initiatives would benefit from explicitly incorporating assessment and management of spawning aggregation-based fisheries. Moreover, conservation initiatives would benefit from avoiding the over-generalisation, lack of quantitative evaluation and ethical and validity issues that have sometimes emerged in other regions.

Clearly, the conservation imperative is influenced by the fact that most research to date has focused on the more vulnerable aggregative spawners such as groupers. However, recognition that some aggregative spawners are relatively resilient to fishing is needed and the socio-economic aspects of the system must be understood (Robinson et al 2011).