In Zanzibar’s Jambiani village, women have transitioned from struggling seaweed farms to cultivating sponges, an initiative established by the Swiss NGO Marine Cultures. Rising ocean temperatures and overfishing had devastated the local seaweed industry, a former economic mainstay. Sponges, however, thrive in warmer waters and command a high value as organic personal care items, with individual specimens selling for up to thirty dollars.
The project, which began as a pilot program for widowed women, has empowered participants like Nasiri Hassan Haji and Shemsa Abbasi Suleiman, enabling them to build homes and achieve financial independence. The women tend to farms that can hold up to fifteen hundred sponges. Beyond economic benefits, the sponges contribute positively to the marine environment by helping to restore coral reefs and naturally filtering seawater.
This shift to sponge farming provides a new economic lifeline while supporting ecosystem recovery in an area where a significant part of the population lives in poverty.
The project, which began as a pilot program for widowed women, has empowered participants like Nasiri Hassan Haji and Shemsa Abbasi Suleiman, enabling them to build homes and achieve financial independence. The women tend to farms that can hold up to fifteen hundred sponges. Beyond economic benefits, the sponges contribute positively to the marine environment by helping to restore coral reefs and naturally filtering seawater.
This shift to sponge farming provides a new economic lifeline while supporting ecosystem recovery in an area where a significant part of the population lives in poverty.
