New Community Partnership

The Manda Projects has signed a formal co-management agreement with three fishing cooperatives operating along the Lamu Archipelago — the Shella Fisherfolk Association, the Matondoni Cooperative Society, and the Manda Bay Artisanal Fishers Guild — covering approximately 40 kilometres of coastline and associated near-shore marine habitat.

The agreement, signed in Lamu on 15 September 2025 in the presence of Kenya Fisheries Service representatives, establishes joint governance structures, agreed fishing calendars that allow key breeding grounds to rest seasonally, and a shared monitoring protocol using low-cost GPS buoys and community data collection.

For the cooperatives, the partnership provides access to the programme's technical support, equipment grants, and market linkages that connect certified sustainable catch to buyers in Nairobi and internationally. For the project, it extends active stewardship across a stretch of coast that had previously received little formal protection.

The cooperatives collectively represent around 340 active fishing households. Community leaders describe the agreement as the first time their traditional fishing knowledge has been formally recognised within an official conservation framework.

Implementation begins with a joint mapping exercise scheduled for October and November 2025, followed by the installation of the first set of monitoring buoys before the end of the year. A review of the agreement's first-year outcomes is planned for Q4 2026.