Programme storyHeshimu Bahari was awarded to ASUTA in three components: BES Northern (1st), then BES Southern (2nd), and finally Community Based Activities (3rd). This dispatch belongs to the BES Southern component.
01
The dataset, in numbers
The southern leg closes with 6,737 grids captured and quality-checked. Combined with the 2,156 northern grids, Heshimu Bahari now holds nearly 8,900 standardised benthic observations for Tanzania's coast.
02
How CFMAs are using it
Fourteen CFMA-relevant zones were mapped. District fisheries officers and BMU chairs are already using selected layers in zoning discussions around Mafia and Kilwa.
03
Handover to the community-based award
With the science in hand, attention turns to award three — community-based activities. The dialogues, trainings and gender work begin against a real map of the seabed, not a guess.
8,900 standardised benthic observations now sit underneath every co-management conversation on the coast.
Key takeaway
BES Southern completes the evidence base that the community-based component (award 3) is built on.