Cyrus Rumisha (PhD) Senior Lecturer
Telephone: +255 717 119 096 Email: cyrus.rumisha@gmail.com or rumisha@sua.ac.tz
Dr. Cyrus Rumisha is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Animal, Aquaculture and Range Sciences, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). He earned his PhD in Marine Biology from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 2017 and a master’s degree from the same university in 2011. Rumisha began working at SUA as a Tutorial Assistant shortly after completing his undergraduate studies in 2008. Rumisha is involved in outreach, teaching, and research projects related to fisheries management and conservation. Recent projects have included DNA barcoding of elasmobranchs landed and traded in Tanzanian fish markets (funded by VLIRUOS), delineation of the stock structure of the queen mackerel to enhance fisheries management in Tanzania (funded by the Tanzania Deep Sea Fishing Authority), and Genetic analysis to improve management and conservation of the endangered East African wedgefishes and their habitat (funded by IFS). Rumisha currently teaches Invertebrate Biology, Biology of fishes, and Aquatic biodiversity and conservation to undergraduate and postgraduate students at SUA. He has also supervised 2 MSc and over 40 BSc. students. Rumisha has authored and co-authored 13 peer-reviewed journal articles, 2 articles in conference proceedings, and 1 book.
Research Projects and Grants (Project Leader)
2020 – 2022 Facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships to foster sustainable shark fisheries in Tanzania. Funded by VLIR-UOS and implemented in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
2020 – 2022 Delineation of the genetic stock structure of the queen mackerel to enhance fisheries management in Tanzania (DGS-Fish). Funded by the Tanzania Deep Sea Fishing Authority.
2020 – 2021 Exposing the black market of the protected sharks to foster sustainable shark fisheries in Tanzania. Funded by the Save Our Seas Foundation
(https://saveourseas.com/project/tracing-tanzanias-illegal-shark-product-networks/ )
2020 – 2021 Genetic analysis to improve management and conservation of the endangered East African wedgefishes and their habitat (GAIM-Fish). Funded by the International Foundation for Science.
2019 – 2021 Compliance campaigns and genetic monitoring to foster sustainable fisheries in the Rift Valley Lakes of north-central Tanzania. Funded by the Rufford Foundation (https://www.rufford.org/projects/cyrus-rumisha/compliance-campaigns-and-genetic-monitoring-to-foster-sustainable-fisheries-in-the-rift-valley-lakes-of-north-central-tanzania/).
2018 – 2019 Enhancing fisheries management through monitoring of the patterns of gene flow between marine protected areas and fishing areas in Tanzania. Funded by the Rufford Foundation (https://www.rufford.org/projects/cyrus-rumisha/enhancing-fisheries-management-through-monitoring-of-the-patterns-of-gene-flow-between-marine-protected-areas-and-fishing-areas-in-tanzania/ ).
Research Projects and Grants (Member of the Research Team)
2022 – 2023 Innovative strategies for enhancing Conservation of Endemic Fishes in the Kilombero floodplain, Tanzania (CoEF- project). Funded by the SUA Research and Innovation Support, Morogoro, Tanzania
2020 – 2021 Revealing the appropriate management units to strengthen management of the sandfish in Tanzania (RAMUS). Funded by the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (https://afo.or.tz/delineation-of-the-genetic-stock-structure-of-the-queen-mackerel-to-enhance-fisheries-management-in-tanzania/ ).
2013 – 2014 Influence of anthropogenic activities on riparian habitats and invertebrate communities in Uluguru mountains Tanzania. Funded by the Rufford Foundation.
Publications
Rumisha has authored and co-authored two articles in conference proceedings, one book, and 13 peer-reviewed journal articles that can be accessed through ORCID and Google Scholar accounts.
