Aristide Takoukam Kamla

President

African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization

akamla@ammco.org

Aristide Takoukam Kamla graduated his Ph.D in the field of Veterinary Medical Sciences at the University of Florida in 2019. He received his Bachelor’ and Master’ degrees in the field of Animal Biology at the University of Dschang in 2008 and 2011 respectively. He is currently serving as the President for the African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization (AMMCO), a non-profit organization he founded in 2014 with the mission to conduct research and conservation of large aquatic animal species and their habitats. He is also a teaching assistant for aquatic animal health and conservation at the same university. Between 2010 and 2014 He served consecutively as ecology assistant, monitoring and evaluation lead and project manager at the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI), known today as METABIOTA. Dr. Takoukam Kamla was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship, the Beinecke African Scholarship, and the Wildlife Conservation Network Scholarship in 2014, 2015 and 2017 respectively. He received an award of the Excellence in Doctoral Studies from the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida in 2020 and the certificate of outstanding merit in the same school in 2015.In 2015, in response to the scarcity of data pertaining to most threatened aquatic marine species in Cameroon, Dr. Takoukam Kamla developed a mobile App called SIREN and organized a network of fishermen who use it to report opportunistic sightings of these species. Dr. Takoukam Kamla is member of the IUCN African Manatee Specialist Group, as well as the Society for Marine Mammalogy and the Society for Conservation Biology. He is the Regional Vice-Chair for the Atlantic Africa Region of the IUCN Species Survival Commission for the Marine Turtles Specialist Group.Aristide Takoukam Kamla was born in Douala, Cameroon, Central Africa. He grew up in the West Region of Cameroon, in a small town called Dschang.

Ecotourism in Lake Ossa

The African manatee, the only herbivorous marine mammal along the Atlantic coast of Africa, faces serious threats, including hunting, bycatch, and habitat degradation. It is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Hunting is the most widespread threat and persists in Cameroon because of weak law enforcement and local misperception. The state conservation office of Cameroon possesses only limited logistics and skills to conduct water patrols. Consequently, at least 18 hunted and bycaught manatees were reported within the southern littoral of Cameroon in 2014. Manatee bycatch is common in Lake Ossa Wildlife Reserve (LOWR). The risk of bycatch increases as critical manatee areas (feeding areas and migratory corridors) and intensive fishing areas overlap, resulting in fishermen-manatee conflict whereby adult manatees will destroy fishing nets and fishers, in turn, will not hesitate to capture entangled calves.The main objective of this project is the development of a water-based ecotourism around Lake Ossa, a hotspot of the African manatee and many bird’s species. Through these activities those species will benefit greater protection, local poverty will be alleviated through the income diversification of the local community which rely mainly on fish product which is unfortunately reducing because of the proliferation of an invasive aquatic plant species (the giant Salvinia). The minimum viable product we would like to provide include boat trip, kayaking on the lake, picnicking and volley on the lake beautiful beaches, eating local food with fresh fish, camping on the lake islands, trekking on the island of the lake, observation tour of the lake, bicycle tour around the lake and fishing with a local fisher. We have already conducted a business plan and our main activities will consist of acquire basic equipment for camping, construct four ecolodges and one observation tour, build trekking trails, build a website, establish an MoU with the local community through the community councils.We hope through this activity to establish a sustainable ecotourism business that will benefit the local community and contribute to the protection of the African manatee.

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