04/07/2015

This week some very large octopus were caught on the island of Kisiwa Panza, Pemba. On Thursday morning, 2nd July, more than 600 fishers converged on the reef flat known as ‘Ngazi’ and pandemonium broke out as people ran to reach the best octopus holes first.

One woman pulled an 8 kg giant out from its den, an extremely rare find in Kisiwa Panza where on average 65% of the catch is 600 grams or less. The reason for the excitement and the big catch is that Thursday was the first day the Ngazi fishing ground was open after a 3-month period of closure to all fishing. The results have been hugely encouraging.