Posted on October, 10 2008

Oysters in the Quirimbas are a resource that have historically been used as a minor dietary supplement, shucked and sold by the cup for about 60 cents US a kilo to make into a sauce for rice. Now, however, thanks to the efforts of WWF and the Quirimbas National Park (QNP), along with a local NGO called the Associação do Meio Ambiente (AMA - Association for the Environment), oysters are transforming the lives of several island communities.

Having successfully set up small no-take zones that have allowed fish stocks to rebound, villagers found that they also seemed to produce lots and lots of oysters. Unable to take advantage of these, being in the no-take zone, they asked the park again for help. Here AMA stepped in, giving technical support to set up rotating harvest zones just next to the no-take zones, taking advantage of the brood stock there to set up a highly sustainable harvesting system. In a very short period of time, oysters were abundant.

However, collecting just for the local market was still not very profitable. Again the QNP and AMA stepped in, teaching simple processing techniques such as boiling and drying, or preserving in oil and spices. Profits shot up six-fold, and with the increased volumes as well, once poor fishermen are now quite well off. Mussemuco, a village of just 240 people, had only one mobile phone two years ago, owned by the AMA extension worker living there. Today, there are more than 30 phones. The village shop has many new products in it, including previously unaffordable articles like washing powder and curry spices. The project funded the first oyster processing group here, but now there are more than a dozen, all copying an obviously successful business model, using their own funds to do so. Once cut off and isolated, small buyers are coming to Mussemuco from many of the surrounding villages to buy oysters, paying fees to the village fund for the right to purchase here.

On Ibo Island, the oyster harvest and processing group has swollen to 29 people, divided into harvesters, who are mostly men, and processors, predominantly women. Bottling the oysters in oil and spices, they have now conquered new markets with the new hotels in the area, and as far away as the provincial capital, a full day’s journey away. In a single trip they can now earn 2000 USD, in an area where the vast majority of the population lives on perhaps 50cents a day! With their own rotating harvest zones established and respected, this is a resource that can be sustainably harvested for the indefinite future.

The Community Development Committee President in Mussemuco sums up the changes thus, “All you see here is on the basis of the oyster.” he says. Lives transformed, resources protected. In the Quirimbas National Park, everybody wins.

Sean Nazerali, Quirimbas National Park Project Executant