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From a distance, women, clad in their buibuis (Muslim women’s garb) some with their children strapped on their back, could be seen either sorting sardines that have already been dried and ready for the market or stoking the fires as they boil the fish freshly brought from the ocean.
Jimbo beach in Kwale County along the Kenyan Coast has, over the years, been synonymous with sardines that are sold across the region. It is a beehive of activity, bringing together women and men undertaking different chores. For the men, though, it is mainly the heavy lifting, carrying baskets and pails full of fish to the boiling points along the beach.
Although fishing is mainly done by men, it is the women who control the trade. About 90 per cent of the business that involves boiling, drying, and selling is done by women, arguably, some of the richest members of the Jimbo community.
Jimbo is not an ordinary village. From its unique location just at the tip of the Kenyan border with Tanzania, this is a classic fishing village, specialising in sardines involving mainly women in the trade. Most men in the village take to fishing in the deep sea. Jimbo is about 90 kilometres (53 miles) south of the port city of Mombasa.
Some women, like Hafifa Saidi Musa, have gone an extra mile, owning a boat that is used for fishing, giving her a competitive edge in the trade.
However, it’s an activity that requires resilience. According to Hafifa, her work is not dictated by time of day or night. It is determined by the tides in the ocean. When the fishers land with the sardines, that’s the time her work starts. This is the work she has done since 2019, buying the sardines locally known as Katashingo or Kimala wari. It’s an arduous task, waking up at times as late as 1 am to collect the fish ready for boiling at the nearby beach.
“I didn’t have the intention of going into this business but my husband came up with the idea of buying a boat for fishing sardines. It was not a bad idea after all, especially after seeing the challenges my colleagues were going through to get the sardines. For me, that was an added advantage as it meant steady supply.
“Before going into this business, there are items that one must buy including a cooking pan that can boil up to 20 kilogrammes, firewood especially before we acquired the energy-saving stoves. We were using a lot of firewood and that meant going to the mangrove forest for fuelwood,” she said.
As the demand for the sardines grew with more women going into the trade, the demand for firewood shot up too, with a negative bearing on the mangrove forest which provided the bulk of it.
The traditional cooking stoves too had their big share of health concerns because of the smoke, putting mothers and their children at a high risk of contracting respiratory diseases.
“One key component of the energy-saving stoves that are now being used for boiling sardines is that it increases communities’ access to affordable, reliable renewable and clean energy. Through this, communities will use less or little wood fuel and charcoal. As such it will not only protect the vegetation cover and woodlands and increase biodiversity, it is a climate action that will reduce the greenhouse gases which cause global warming and climate change,” said one of the community leaders, Kai Mtoro.
“We take charge of the business after landing the fish from processing to handling the money. Even my husband who goes fishing, leaves everything to me — including budgeting for food, school requirements and other household needs.
“The only value addition we do is boiling and drying. There was a time we tried adding spices, making it ready to eat; but that didn’t work because of failing to meet the quality standards as required by the Kenya Bureau of Standards,” she added.
However, to ensure quality of what they do in the processing, Hafifa said one of the key requirements is personal hygiene and since many have put up sheds for shelter, they make sure that the space is clean and all the materials used for the work are washed and sanitation is maintained.
On a good day, Hafifa makes up to Ksh10,000 (about US$80) and to grow her business, she is planning to get a bigger boat.
Hafifa represents coastal women who have fully embraced fisheries as an enterprise, doubling it with sustainable use of marine resources through conservation and climate action.
Studies show that sardines are rich in protein, calcium, and essential micronutrients. Sardines play a vital role in preventing malnutrition in coastal and inland Kenya.
In Bodo, Mwatime Mohamed, Kwale Women in Small Scale Fisheries says women who venture in the fisheries space are still not getting much attention in terms of support for empowerment.
“Traditionally, fishing is a preserve for men and that, I believe, is why all the support in fisheries is male-oriented. The women can also go to the deep sea and bring fish, rather than just waiting by the beach to buy from fishers,” she said.
Some left regular employment when they felt it was no longer reliable and one such case is that of Mwanatumu Makopo, Secretary of Mwembe Beach Management Unit (BMU) and Bidii Women Group in Msambweni. Her journey into fisheries began almost by accident.
“I used to work in the hotel industry where I rose to the position of a general manager,” she recalls. “Through that, I met many people in the blue economy sector and developed an interest in what happens in the sea. My mother was also a fish dealer, and I learned the ropes from her.”
Leaving formal employment to venture into the fish trade wasn’t easy, but Mwanatumu has no regrets. “Being a fishmonger is not a small thing,” she insists. “It requires training and financial literacy. You can take a loan, buy freezers, and expand, even sell as a wholesaler, because the value chain is wider and lucrative too.”
She has benefitted from a financial management training by Equity Bank and Community Action for Nature Conservation (CANCO), a national Non-Governmental Organization.
“It’s not about having money; it’s about knowing how to spend it wisely. I’ve learned the importance of saving and keeping records. My account was dormant for years but got the nudge after this training and I immediately sent money to it,” she said.
Mwanatumu says with advances in technology, women should not be left behind, adding that the next step should be digitisation, teaching women how to use digital platforms to reach new markets. “If we can digitise our businesses, we’ll greatly expand our customer base.”
The marine ecosystem is not just about fisheries and as Mwatime Mohamed pointed out, the women in their quest to partake of the proceeds coming from the sea, realised all will not be well without having a healthy environment.
Mwatime, a member of the Bodo BMU and fish dealer, represents another face of transformation, one that links conservation with commerce.
“Traditionally, fishing and sea-related work were a preserve of men,” she explains. “But through empowerment and the establishment of BMUs, we women realised it was time to take more active roles.”
Beyond selling fish, Mwatime and her group engage in mangrove restoration and seaweed farming, initiatives that contribute to ecosystem health while generating income. “We’ve planted thousands of mangroves,” she says proudly. “Some organisations even buy seedlings from us, turning conservation into an income-generating activity.”
With CANCO’s support and insights from organizations like Coast Women In Fisheries Enterprise (CWIFE), a company that is also involved in advocacy, these women have learned about value addition and hygiene, reducing post-harvest losses and improving the quality of their products. “We used to get just a few kilos of fish and rushed to fry them for sale locally; now, some of us have become fish dealers, buying tons of fish and sell even outside the county,” Mwatime says.
At the heart of these initiatives is Mercy Mghanga, Director of CWIFE, a tireless advocate for women in fisheries. Her message to the women in the fisheries sector is brief but to the point, highlighting a critical issue about fish quality control. She describes it as one of the biggest barriers preventing Kenyan fish from accessing lucrative international markets.
“The hygiene standards across the value chain are low,” she says. “From fishing vessels to nets and handling, we need to ensure proper sanitation. Even the women handling fish must meet health standards. Currently, we can’t export to the European Union because of poor quality control.”
Mercy calls for stronger policies and more accountability. “Funds meant for fishers, like those from the World Bank, often end up benefiting a few influential individuals instead of the actual fishers and we must call this out,” she says.
Through her experience in the fisheries enterprises including her role in formulating policies to drive the industry, Mercy believes the solution lies in continued training, exposure, and practical empowerment.
“Many women are stuck at the same level buying just two or five kilos of fish. We want them to think bigger to become wholesalers, exporters, and innovators. Trainings like these should last a week and include all aspects of the trade from value addition to marketing.”
For women in Mkwiro octopus harvesting has become one of their biggest catches, mixing conservation through Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) and traditional knowledge to earn their upkeep.
The case of Mzungu Athman Ali, who has spent a better part of her life as an octopus gleaner and who started learning how to harvest octopus at the age of 18, is inspiring. She has become a pillar of strength to other women within the Shimoni-Vanga Seascape.
“Back then, there was a lot of catch and, in fact, very big octopuses. Despite the prices being low compared to today, it was compensated by the many kilogrammes that we would accumulate from the catch.
“We didn’t have to go very far to look for octopus then. But over the years, the situation has changed and it’s no longer as lucrative as it used to be,” she narrated.
The challenges that the local octopus gleaners have faced, leading to poor catch, are mainly related to climate change and illegal fishing through the use of harmful fishing gear.
In the past, they said, one would just be trying her luck. But there was a high likelihood of getting something. Now, though, it’s no longer the same due to climate change as well as sedimentation that have covered octopus habitats.
Coastal and Marine Resources Development (COMRED) Co-Director Joseph Tunje cites climate change mitigation as an important aspect in the exercise, adding that when the ecosystem is uninterrupted, corals grow and flourish and they have the potential to trap carbon dioxide and turn the area into a carbon sink.
“A closure has far-reaching benefits ecologically and even economically. It means that the creatures, especially octopus, will breed uninterrupted. Other creatures such as corals and sea grass become stronger and since all sea creatures are interrelated, the ocean becomes more productive,” he said.
However, with all the strides they have made in the fisheries sector, women still have to battle many challenges that come with the gender. For women fish traders around Lake Jipe in Taita Taveta County, the challenges are many — ranging from seasonal fish stocks to exploitative practices and poor infrastructure.
Taita Taveta County is a county in Kenya, located approximately 124 miles northwest of Mombasa, and 223 miles southeast of Nairobi. It has a port and is a major gateway to the United Republic of Tanzania through Taveta.
Lake Jipe is an inter-territorial lake straddling the borders of Kenya and Tanzania.
“Some fishermen still demand sexual favours before selling fish to women,” she says. “At first, no one spoke about it,” said Eunice Kageha.
Eunice has experienced it all. She speaks candidly about the exploitation that women traders face. “With sustained empowerment campaigns we’ve learned to say no and stand up for our rights.”
“For years, I traded in fish with very little to show for it,” she says. “But through trainings on financial management and value addition, I’ve gained a new perspective.”
Further inland, at Lake Chala, it’s a different story of a different kind of challenge for the women in the fisheries sector. Fatuma Joseph from Imbaria Beach Management Unit, a fish dealer and BMU member, describes a tough environment where women struggle even to access the lake to get fish.
“Getting to the landing site is hard as there’s no proper path or infrastructure,” she says. “We have to carry fish in buckets up steep slopes, and not all women can manage that.”
Despite these difficulties, Fatuma and other women have found strength through training and collective action.
“We’ve learned about hygiene, value addition, and our rights as women in fisheries,” she said.
“We’re no longer silent. We’re asking for a proper landing site and support to make our businesses viable,” sshe added.
Fatuma highlights the need for technology and infrastructure to improve fish harvesting and storage. “Our fish is of good quality, very sweet, rich in oil and nutrients. But we need better facilities like freezers to prevent losses and reach larger markets.”
John Kareko, Technical Advisor, Fisheries Management and Development, said the excitement that women fishers experience in Lake Chala and Lake Jipe, has come as a result of the exposure they have gained from interacting with civil society and other organisations.
“Very few people knew about the existence of Lake Chala and Lake Jipe. But through exposure and women empowerment, people now know there is fish in Taveta from these two lakes. This knowledge dawned when the World Fisheries Day was held right here in Lake Chala, through the support of civil society. They brought the world to Lake Chala and now everyone knows about the potential that exists here,” said Kareko.