- More than 1.8 million people live in Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous archipelago that united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form present-day Tanzania.
- Of Zanzibar’s population, roughly 550,000 people live on Pemba Island, one of its two main islands, where many households depend directly on the surrounding marine ecosystem for food, income, and livelihoods.
- Across the island, a community-led approach to marine resource management is taking root. Local communities are organized through Shehia Fisheries Committees and Collaborative Management Groups, which develop and implement rules governing the use of marine resources, including fisheries and locally managed conservation areas.
- Enforcing those rules, however, is not always straightforward. Community patrol teams often lack the legal authority needed to take action against offenders. In a largely Muslim society where marine patrols have traditionally been dominated by men, women are increasingly joining these teams to help monitor fishing activities and encourage compliance.
PEMBA, Tanzania — Patrolling the sea is not the kind of work many women on Tanzania’s Pemba Island are traditionally expected to do. Yet, for Amina Gharib Issa, it has become part of her life recently.
At 55 years old, Issa has spent years around the sea, including as a fisher. But when fish stocks began dwindling and communities in Pemba introduced temporary closures, periods during which fishing is suspended to allow marine life to recover, she took on the task of helping patrol the waters to ensure the rules were respected.
She is part of a seven-member community patrol team that goes out about eight times a month, checking boats, fishing gear and licenses. The work can mean hours on the water, sometimes in rough conditions, for pay of about $8 a day.
In much of Pemba, women participate widely in fisheries, but being out on patrol with men is another matter. The community is predominantly Muslim, and gender roles can be closely examined.
“Some of the women are not permitted by their husbands,” Ali Said Hamad, a member of the Mwambao team, said, explaining one of the reasons more women do not join. Said has spent decades on these waters — not as an enforcement officer — but helping implement community-led conservation programs.
For those women who do patrol the waters, family support can make the difference. Issa said her husband supported her decision to take part.
Her work is part of a broader community-led conservation effort supported by Mwambao Coastal Community Network, which works with coastal communities in Tanzania to strengthen local marine management.
In Pemba, this has included helping communities organize closures, carry out awareness campaigns, and support patrol teams aimed at reducing destructive and illegal fishing.
Supporters of the model argue that conservation stands a better chance when communities help write the rules and have a stake in enforcing them.
Women patrollers share their stories
For the women interviewed by Mongabay, the approach appears to be yielding some results. Mongabay accompanied two community patrols in the waters around Pemba Island, arranged by organizations supporting the marine management program. However, the reporting and interviews were conducted independently.
Fatma Omar Ali, 49, said women joined the patrols after witnessing the degradation of marine resources caused by destructive fishing practices.
“We have seen that our resources are being destroyed by the fishers,” Ali, speaking in Swahili, said through an interpreter. “So we decided to take part in the management so that the resources can help us today and the future generation.”
Another patrol member, Asha Sufiani, 29, said illegal fishing had declined since the patrols began, even if the problem has not disappeared.
“They say that thank God that the illegal activities have been reduced,” an interpreter said, relaying her remarks. “In the beginning, it was terrible. But now, there is a reduction of the illegal fishing activities because of taking this role in the patrol.”
On patrol, teams record the names of boat operators, the type of gear they are using, whether they hold licenses, and how many people are on board.
However, their authority has limits. One of the biggest challenges, according to patrol members and staff of a local organization supporting marine resource management in Pemba, is that community teams often lack the legal mandate to arrest offenders or take stronger enforcement action on their own. If a fisheries officer is present, illegal gear can be confiscated and arrests made. Without one, patrol teams may have little choice but to record names, issue warnings and refer cases to district authorities.
“If the fisher resists, they just take their name,” Ramadhani Omary Saidi, a local Mwambao staff member, explained to Mongabay. The case is then submitted to a district fisheries officer who can follow up.
The challenge arises when community patrols identify offenders but lack the authority to take further action. Community patrols may spot illegal activity, but enforcement can still depend on outside authorities — and on whether those authorities act. In practice, the approach works best when local communities remain engaged, and government authorities follow through when violations are reported.
A local official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Mongabay that enforcement efforts can sometimes be weakened by political influence. According to the official, individuals accused of violating community fisheries regulations have, on occasion, been released following intervention from local politicians who argue that the alleged offenders are supporters or constituents.
Khamis Sharif Haji, a patrol member, said the team also works with limited equipment. Their boat is old, he said, and even, the engine is worn out. Raincoats and boots help, but patrol members said they need better gear and stronger support. Haji also said more research is needed in closed areas to understand whether conservation efforts are working, especially as climate pressures grow. Warming oceans, sea level rise and increased likelihood of storms have all impacted fisheries in the region.
Yet, those same challenges highlight what community patrols can and cannot do on their own. Compared with other models of enforcement, it can be slower and less forceful. But it is also rooted more directly in local participation and in the idea that people are more likely to protect resources they feel responsible for, argued Lorna Slade, one of the co-founders of Mwambao.
Community support matters
That local support matters in places like Pemba, where families depend on the sea for both food and income. Women in fisheries often sell, process or collect marine products, but some, like Issa, also fish directly. In her case, joining patrols did not mean leaving that world behind. It meant trying to defend it.
Patrol members say they are already seeing some changes, notably with respect to complying with license requirements by local fishers. Awareness campaigns conducted by NGOs working on the ground have also helped bring more residents into the conversation around closures and marine management.
The model is not easy or complete, according to those interviewed. Women still face social barriers to joining patrol teams. Community patrols still lack full enforcement powers. And when cases move beyond the community level, outcomes can slip out of local hands.
Despite these challenges, Issa is committed to her role. Eight of the 30 days in a month, she joins a team of men to check boats, talk to fishers and watch out for illegal gear.
It may be risky work and carry other challenging stakes, but in Pemba’s waters, where conservation depends as much on local participation as on policy, women like Issa have become some of the most visible faces of that effort.
Banner image: Following community consultations, some men are allowing women to join fisheries patrol teams, Mongabay learned during a reporting trip to Pemba Island. Image by David Akana/Mongabay.
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Cite this article
David Akana (2026). Women patrol Tanzania’s Pemba waters in a community-led push to protect the sea. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321946
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