From Seagrass to Seashells

Marco Vinaccia

By GRID-Arendal

April 16^th, 2019

A GRID-Arendal team of five coordinated a ResilienSEA project Regional Technical Workshop in Joal-Fadiouth, Senegal in March, where a part of the project team visited the local women’s mariculture and reforestation association “Mboga Yaye”.

At low tide, a local pirogue took the team to visit the site where the women were hard at work harvesting seashells.

The women were sorting seashells with plastic buckets and sieves, and cleaning them from the mud they were lying in. The shells they gather in the muddy waters are mainly ark shells, clams and mussels. The were women also harvesting oysters that grow on the mangroves’ bark and on nets installed between the trunks. This is why the association is involved in mangrove reforestation, to ensure the sustainability of oyster harvesting. Once harvested, the product transformation is quite simple: the seashells are sundried and sold as is.

In 2004, the Senegalese government created a Marine Protected Area (MPA) around Joal-Fadiouth to better conserve the fisheries resources and surrounding ecosystems that help increase the local biodiversity, such as seagrass and mangroves. Colonel Boucar Ndiaye, Director of the Communal Marine Protected Areas Directorate (DAMCP), who also attended the workshop said:

“The creation of the MPA in 2004 has helped improve the sustainable management of seashell harvesting. The task at hand is to help the women earn a decent revenue by ensuring that this ancestral tradition can be continued while respecting natural processes.”

It was important for the ResilienSEA team to visit this association and see whether the link between seagrass conservation and this economic activity could be made. Seagrass and mangrove ecosystems deliver multiple services to the local environment, people, and economy. These include providing nurseries for numerous species of fish, sea turtles, and manatees, sequestering large amounts of carbon, stabilising the sediment, and protecting the shoreline against storm surges.

Another significant ecosystem service is that of water quality regulation. As Mohamed Ahmed Sidi Cheikh, a seagrass expert from Mauritania put it:

“Seagrass meadows play an important role in improving water quality. Seagrass beds contribute to the purification of coastal waters through the absorption of multiple substances such as nitrogen, carbon and other trace metals.”

Healthy seagrass ecosystems are vital for Bintu Sonko, the President of the Mboga Yaye Association, explains:

“The creation of the MPA in 2004 increased our knowledge about seagrass ecosystems. We now know the crucial role they play in our mariculture activities. Any reduction in the extent of the seagrass meadows in the MPA would have serious consequences for us and our revenues.”

Abdou Karim Sall, the President of the Senegalese fisherman’s association, is aware of the role seagrasses play for fisheries, but also for seashell harvesting. He has been advocating for the sustainable conservation of seagrass ecosystems for years. He told us:

“Ark clams are fundamental for the local economy as an income generating venture. Seagrass meadows are at the bottom of the food chain and are essential for ark clams, for fisheries, and for food security in Joal-Fadiouth as a whole.”

At the end of the visit, Tanya Bryan, the ResilienSEA Project Manager, said:

“I was really impressed by the communal aspect of this association, and how well the women are organised. Harvesting of seashells has been a part of the Serer culture for generations, but to see this develop into a sustainable economic resource for these women and their families shows once again how valuable seagrass ecosystems are to the people, the economy and the environment in Joal-Fadiouth, and in West Africa in general.”