Fishing is an important economic driver and the basis of livelihoods and food security for many hundreds of millions of people worldwide. However, unsustainable, illegal and destructive fishing practices threaten fish stocks, marine ecosystems and the services they provide.
Our work builds towards resilience, productivity & sustainability of small-scale fisheries at our island sites. Through our collaborations with Universidad Lurio in Mozambique, this includes documenting fish catches by local fishers to help Fisheries department data recording, and on Vamizi Island, supporting the work of the local Conselhos Comunitários de Pesca (CCP) – a community fisheries council group – to patrol their community marine sanctuary, inform fishers of rules and regulations regarding fisheries in the region, and help monitor ecological information regarding the condition of the Vamizi Marine Sanctuary and surrounding areas.
We are also supporting the ground-breaking work of marine scientists at Lancaster University and collaborators, working on the impacts of climate change and habitat alteration on the nutritional value of reef fish that local communities depend on. These studies have important implications for food security and the management of fisheries and coral reef ecosystems, particularly in subsistence communities that depend on small-scale fishing.