Exploring Conservation and Community: Our Experience with the Aqua-Farms Organization

The following blog post is brought to you by Caleb.

This past week we spent two days with the Aqua-Farms Organization, AFO. It was a great time! After our Thursday morning Swahili classes, several AFO representatives came to introduce their organization to us. During this two-hour session, we learned many things about their goals as well as the impact they’ve had on communities throughout Tanzania. For some background, AFO is an NGO that was founded in 2017 by a group of students at the University of Dar es Salaam, which is the same university we had several lectures at for the past couple of weeks. Their vision is to combat climate change while also enhancing income generation to the community through a variety of different ways, such as workshops, training, and research on fisheries and aquaculture. What stood out to us most during this lecture was how they are aiding the communities economically but also supporting the local ecosystem through many different aspects. They explained that they divide their projects into two categories. The first is marine resources conservation and the second is coastal community livelihoods. By the end of the presentation on Thursday, we had gained a good understanding of their work and goals for the organization.

The following morning, we arrived at their headquarters as a group. We briefly met there and picked up some of their team members to head down to the fishing village. Once everyone was loaded into the bus, we headed down to the nearest mangroves, which was about a 15-minute bus ride. The bus was barely able to squeeze through some of the narrow roads. The bus driver parked the bus, and we were able to meet with some of the locals whom AFO works with to preserve the mangroves in that area. As we were walking over to the mangroves, a car came past us in reverse and clobbered some of the wooden drying racks. It then drove off, leaving behind quite a mess. It was pretty wild! We began walking again and quickly made it to the mangrove forests. Once we made it, they began explaining how several different individuals from the community grow different mangrove species from little seeds/starters into small seedlings. Once they have matured for several months, they sell them to other organizations or use them themselves to reestablish damaged mangrove forests.

Next, they took us to see one of their other projects, bee hives. This is part of one of their programs to establish alternative methods of income to protect the fisheries. They have established fisheries where fishermen leave the zone alone for 90 days to ensure that the fish have time to establish themselves and mature. Then they fish the area for several days. This method has been shown to greatly increase the size of their catch in just three days. This catch is even greater than what they would have caught in three months. So the bee hives come in during those 90 days to provide the fishermen and their families an income. They maintain the hives and collect the honey to sell for a profit. The bees also provide the forest with a bit of protection as some individuals are afraid of them and steer clear of the areas with hives. Once they were done showing us the beehives, we headed back to the previous area. There, they had set up holes and little mangrove trees for us to plant. Each member of the group was able to plant a little seedling, which was a really neat aspect of this experience.

Following that activity, we walked away up the edge of the mangrove forest to see another one of their nurseries. There we were able to see different species of trees that were in different growing phases. It was cool to see how much effort the locals have put into the nurseries. You can tell how much they care about the state of the forests that surround them. It was impressive to learn that an acre of mangroves capture about 1 ton of CO2e annually.

Once we had finished up our tour of that nursery, we continued walking up the edge of the forest. We walked for a while, and along the way, they kept on showing us where they had replanted the forests. We finally made it to a section where they had replanted recently. It was pretty interesting to see how the area was beginning to regrow. This was the end of the tour, so we headed back to the bus.

Once we made it back to the bus, we ate a quick lunch and drove over to the fish market. After we arrived, we quickly walked through the fish market, and we saw some freshly caught fish along with a pretty large one that was on the counter. The AFO team members then took us over to the beach, which was just a short walk away. We then divided into two groups and took two separate boats over to an island nearby. For the next few hours, we spent time on the beach. The water was very warm, and it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. One of the AFO team members took us snorkeling in groups, which was a highlight for the group. We were able to see fish and starfish while we were snorkeling. It was super neat! After several hours on the beach, it was time to head back to the mainland. So we all loaded back up into the boats and headed back to the mainland. Upon making it to the mainland, we loaded back onto the bus and headed back to the AFO headquarters. After reaching their offices, they provided us with a delicious meal of chicken, pilau, and watermelon. While eating the meal, we were able to reflect on what we had seen and learned throughout the day and heard even more of AFO’s good work. The air conditioning felt great as well! We finished up the meal and took some photos with the staff. We then packed up and headed back home.

Overall, the day was a great success! We learned so much about what AFO is doing for coastal communities and the environment around them. It is neat to be able to support and partner with an organization that is doing so much to address climate change and creatively benefit Tanzanian livelihoods.