Project Background:

Since 2016, Blue Ventures and Dahari have been collaborating to build the capacity for community management of marine and coastal resources in various fishing villages on Anjouan in the Comoros. One significant aspect of their partnership involved initiating monitoring programs aimed at collecting data on marine species landings. This effort to empower local communities in managing their marine resources gained momentum when women from these villages embarked on exchange visits to Madagascar in 2017 and Zanzibar in 2018. These experiences inspired them to establish the first fisherwomen's association on the island, known as Maecha Bora. Notably, Maecha Bora played a pioneering role in implementing the first octopus fishery closure in Anjouan.

Octopus fishing holds great importance on the island, providing a vital source of food and income, alongside other fisheries like pelagic fish such as tuna. The accessibility of octopus catch sites through methods like gleaning, which can be done on foot during low tide, makes it a preferred choice. Traditionally, men fish by boat, while women engage in foot-based octopus fishing.

The octopus closures, initiated in 2018 and followed by two more in 2020, proved highly successful. In February 2021, after a 3-month closure, the average weight of octopuses caught doubled compared to those caught before the closure or outside the closed fishing areas. To enhance the effectiveness of these closures, local associations in Anjouan joined forces, implementing additional fisheries management measures. These measures included the mandatory use of the "mwiri" (wooden stick) instead of the "ntsontso" (metal rod) during reopening days and the prohibition of capturing juvenile octopuses weighing less than 500 grams to allow them to reach reproductive age before being caught.

These data collection initiatives are essential for community management measures and decision-making, as the communities heavily depend on reef harvesting for food security. To further streamline the data collection process, ABALOBI collaborated with Dahari and Blue Ventures to digitize it through the ABALOBI MONITOR app. This digital transformation is expected to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in managing marine resources and sustaining the livelihoods of Comorian fishers.

Read more about the project on Blue Ventures' blog here and here.

Project Aim:

• To scale up fisheries management efforts in the Western Indian Ocean region by using a mobile app.

Objectives:

• Developing and piloting ABALOBI and Blue Ventures’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) assisted fisheries' governance and management tools as low-cost scalable solutions.
• Strengthening the capacity of fishing communities to participate actively in the co-design of feedback and visualisation tools, enabling them to maximize the benefits from the information collected using the ICT tools.