Fish dealer Mariam Masudi preparing fish for the market at the Mkunguni Beach in Kwale County. Women are at the forefront in fisheries enterprise| Photo By Mazera Ndurya She did not just stumble into leadership – her path to leadership started way back in primary school from a class prefect to head girl at Mkwiro…
Amina Ahmed (Mama Pweza), chairperson of Shanga Ishakani Women Fishers Group displaying one of her catches of the day in Lamu| Photo By TNC In the sunbaked creeks of Lamu and Kwale counties, women like Amina Ahmed popularly known as “Mama Pweza”, wade through the ocean daily for octopus, a lifeline for food security and…
Healthy Seagrass| Photo Courtesy On March 1, 2026, globally acknowledged as World Seagrass Day, the Kenyan coastal community was not left behind in celebrating such an important marine ecosystem. Fishers, conservation activists, civil society organizations, scientists and government officials converged in Kilifi for a day that was filled with wide-ranging activities including a beach clean-up…
Women harvesting seaweed in one of the seaweed farms in Kibuyuni, Kwale County| Photo courtesy Along Kenya’s vast coastline, an unassuming marine crop is quietly emerging as a cornerstone of the blue economy, offering a powerful solution to some of the region’s most pressing challenges of climate change, declining fisheries, poverty, food security and limited…
A woman from Pate Kwabagua preparing the hapahapa pots for mangrove seedlings under the Pate Resources and Tourism Initiative (PRATI), with support from Wetlands International Eastern Africa |Photo by Wetlands International Eastern Africa On the far-flung shores of Pate Island in Lamu County, the ocean is more than a backdrop; it is life itself. Generations…
The Director of Coast Women in Fisheries Enterprises (CWIFE) Mercy Mghanga facilitating at the training on financial management for women in fisheries from Kwale and Taita Taveta Counties in Msambweni. The training organized by CANCO brought trainers from Equity Bank Group through the Equity Foundation |Photo by Mazera Ndurya Once perceived as a preserve for…
Mombasa Ocean Festival. Photo Credit: @mapicha_makes_memories. On a rainy Tuesday morning in Mombasa, despite the heavy downpour, more than 250 pupils from nine schools attended the opening ceremony – Ocean Movie Day at Nyali Cinemax. This event marked the beginning of the Mombasa Ocean Festival, a weeklong celebration aimed at raising awareness about the importance…
Seagrass Expert, Dr Jaqueline Uku, from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) explaining the difference between seagrass and algae during the World Seagrass Day| Photo Mazera Ndurya As the world marked World Seagrass Day 2025, on 1 March, Kenya stood alongside the global community to highlight the crucial role of seagrass ecosystems in…
Students from Bandari Maritime Academy demonstrating how a prototype they developed to fight illegal fishing called Smart Selective Fishing Box works during the Kenya Blue Economy Debate at the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM)| Photo Mazera Ndurya About 20 years ago, while on a tour of duty in Lamu, I met a man who at…
Stakeholders who attended the STEM Education and Training Policy Workshop to review and enhance the current policy at the North Coast Hotel, Kilifi. Photo by Dr. Jacqueline Uku. Efforts to promote ocean literacy are being ramped up to help the public, especially youth, understand the vast opportunities within the blue economy. From Media outlets like…
