Senegal is a coastal and Sahelian country with a wide range of rural areas, hosting unique and diverse species. The coastlines are characterised by highly productive marine ecosystems and large populations of fish that are faced with numerous environmental issues linked to human activities. Fish are critical to maintaining ecosystem functions and ecological services. However, traditional biodiversity measures that aim at quantifying the number of species in an ecosystem do not account for the role and functions that these species play within the ecosystem. INDUCE focused on assessing the functional diversity of commercially valuable fish species in Senegalese coastal waters. Functional diversity measures how species interact with the environment and with other species. The project aimed at laying down the scientific bases for best integrating two blue economy dimensions – fish ecology and governance. INDUCE built capacities for functional diversity management and research and analyses the effectiveness of existing governance frameworks.
INDUCE Promoting a sustainable Blue Economy in Senegal by conserving fish functional diversity
2nd Call
Project Duration: August 2020 to September 2022
Project Summary
Related Themes
Key Impacts
CAPACITY
DEVELOPMENT
The project developed capacity on quantitative analysis of biodiversity metrics in the context of fish governance by organising a spring school for graduate students.
SCIENCE-POLICY
TRANSFER
The project steered the integration of science-based and socially inclusive knowledge into the agendas of policymakers by organising workshops and publishing a policy brief.
DIGITAL
INNOVATIONS
The project developed an image recognition software based on a machine learning algorithm to automatically read fish photographs and extract morphological traits.
