Fisher-Led Data in Action: Case Studies from Small-Scale Fisheries & Release of ABALOBI Monitor in the Western Indian Ocean

​Join us for an evening cocktail event celebrating the work of small scale fisher communities in the Western Indian Ocean region!

​Across the Western Indian Ocean, small-scale fishers are beginning to harness their data to strengthen stewardship of coastal resources and negotiate a fairer place in seafood value chains. This side event will bring fishers and their partners to the centre stage, sharing concrete case studies of how locally driven data collection, facilitated by the ABALOBI Monitor platform, has already influenced on-the-water decision-making, community management plans, and market opportunities.

​Speakers from Chale BMU (Kenya) and the Port St Johns Central cooperative (South Africa) will present the practical steps they have taken, from setting monitoring priorities to visualising catches in near real time, and reflect on lessons learnt: building trust in numbers, integrating traditional knowledge, and ensuring that data returns value to fishers first. Partner experts will situate these stories within the wider WIO policy landscape, exploring how fisher-generated datasets can complement national information systems and emerging regional frameworks.

​This side event will mark the public launch of the ABALOBI Monitor platform, a digital tool co-developed with small-scale fishers and partners to enable community-driven data collection, visibility, and stewardship of coastal resources. ABALOBI Monitor is a digital backbone you can shape to your own monitoring goals, co-designed by fishers, for fishers, with data flowing from boats to dashboards in minutes. For more information visit abalobi.org/monitor

​To date, ABALOBI Monitor has only been accessible to selected partner organisations. At WIOMSA 2025, we will launch country-specific configurations of the app that have been tailored via a participatory crowd-sourcing campaign in the run-up to the Symposium. These versions will be made freely available for use by any WIO-based organisation, cooperative, or government actor interested in piloting digital small-scale fisheries data collection. 

​Our objective is to build a regional community of practice around interoperable, and community-friendly digital tools for fisheries monitoring.

​A huge thanks to all partners collaborating in this event:

• ​ABALOBI

• ​Blue Ventures

• ​Chale Beach Management Unit

• ​Mwambao

• ​Port St Johns Central Cooperative

• ​RARE Mozambique

• ​Wildlife Conservation Society

• ​WorldFish

• ​WWF South Africa

​Light refreshments will be served.