Thomas Kalama Mkare

MSc Zoology

Shallow water penaeid prawns of the genera Penaeus Fabricius, 1798, Fenneropenaeus Perez Farfante, 1969 and Metapenaeus Wood-Mason, 1891 are cosmopolitan in distribution. Of the three above genera, Penaeus monodon (Fabricius, 1798), Fenneropenaeus indicus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) and Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius, 1798) are largely known in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) given their economic and ecological values. In the SWIO countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar, they support both artisanal and commercial trawl fisheries. In all these countries, surprisingly, scientific knowledge available regarding their distribution and genetic structure is very limited in scope and quality and this has contributed to their poor management and conservation strategies.

My research on “the genetic population structure of penaeid prawns Penaeus monodon (Fabricius, 1798), Fenneropenaeus indicus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) and Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius, 1798) in the South West Indian Ocean” is in two folds; 1) MSc research which focuses on the Kenyan samples and seek to determine whether the offshore recruitment of P. monodon, F. indicus and M. monoceros is from the local estuaries of Ngomeni and Kipini and whether offshore stocks are genetically distinct or an admixture of the populations in the two nursery areas. 2) Regional research that includes samples from SWIO countries (i.e. Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar) which tries to determine stock identity in relation to international boundaries. Are these species shared among SWIO counties? (More information is available at; http://www.swiofp.net). To address the above questions, I have incorporated a number of markers including DNA sequencing of mtDNA-CR and mtDNA-COI and microsatellites which are adequately robust in answering the above research questions.

Supervisors:

Prof. Conrad A Matthee (US); Dr. Sophie von der Heyden (US); Dr. Johan Groeneveld (ORI)

Penaeus monodon

Fenneropenaeus indicus

Metapenaeus monoceros

 

Department of Botany and Zoology University of Stellenbosch Private Bag X1 Matieland 7602 South Africa

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