ABALOBI

📣 Read our latest Quarterly Stories! 👀 This edition celebrates global recognition, the exciting evolution of our tech, and the inspiring stories of small-scale fishers in Kenya and South Africa pioneering data collection for ocean resilience. Catch it here: https://lnkd.in/d-E_8eFy Subscribe to our future Stories: https://lnkd.in/d86ZfuMp Missed our previous stories for 2024? Catch them here https://lnkd.in/dqBCXGjb and here https://lnkd.in/dcUuTvs9 #abalobi #fishwithastory #oceans #smallscalefisheries #techforgood #reviveouroceans #communityled #rethinkingsustainability #sustainability #oceanresilience #oceanoptimism #seafood #financialinclusion #southafrica #kenya #WIO Featuring: OceanHub Africa Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance Friends of Ocean Action UpLink - World Economic Forum World Trade Organization Zayed Sustainability Prize The Earthshot Prize Wildlife Conservation Society CLS Group (Collecte Localisation Satellites) Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Babylonstoren

Coming to #EarthshotCapeTown? Join ABALOBI and OceanHub Africa for an evening of African Ocean Storytelling as we celebrate the immense potential of inclusive Ocean Innovation in Africa! 🌊🌍 This Pecha Kucha style event includes a light meal showcasing Fish With A Story by ABALOBI. #AfricanOceanStorytelling | 5 November 2024, 5.30—7.30 PM, Cape Town CBD Speakers: Serge Raemaekers — ABALOBI Zandile Ndhlovu — Black Mermaid Foundation Herland CERVEAUX — OceanHub Africa Register your interest: https://lnkd.in/dtGQYZhV #abalobi #oceanhubafrica #oceans #oceaninnovation #africa The Earthshot Prize

ABALOBI is a Finalist in the 2025 Zayed Sustainability Prize! The Zayed Sustainability Prize is a prestigious global award that recognises innovative and impactful solutions in sustainability and humanitarianism across various sectors, including Health, Food, Energy, Water and Climate Action. We are proud to announce that ABALOBI has been selected as one of three finalists in the Food category of the Prize from over 5,900 submissions! This recognition underscores our commitment to advancing sustainable practices for global food security and celebrates the efforts of the small-scale fishers leading our programme. Learn more about the Prize and the 2025 finalists who are pioneering innovative solutions to global challenges: https://lnkd.in/dW9zNYar #abalobi #techforgood #smallscalefisheries #foodsecurity #zayedsustainabilityprize

#ClimateWeekNYC done and dusted! My feed is buzzing with insights, and I feel re-energised by our urgent, collective determination towards #climateaction. As we approach #COP28 and #UNOC2025, there’s a palpable sense of momentum in the ocean space. It was an honour to attend my inaugural meeting as a Friends of Ocean Action member and soak up a star-studded #EarthshotPrize Innovation Summit hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Great to listen to Biden speak about his climate legacy, and to see the rise of The Earthshot Prize 2024 Finalists. Special mention to the #ReviveOurOceans Finalists Coast 4C, MiAlgae and High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People. Sharing progress at the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance Members’ Meeting was immensely beneficial. Karen Sack and her team pooled an incredible diversity of minds together in the same room! As I dive back into the daily operations of ABALOBI – working with small-scale fishing communities facing complex social, economic and ecological challenges – I feel compelled to express my stance on two growing trends: how #naturebasedsolution funds are socialised, and market return expectations on the back of #catalyticcapital. These need greater nuance in the coastal communities space, a more refined public narrative, or perhaps a fundamental rethink? 🌳We are witnessing an explosion of audacious funds targeting nature-based solutions. #Livelihoods, #equity and #communityled approaches are buzzwords, with significant sums aimed at “driving capital where it matters.” In theory, this marks incredible progress. The reality contrasts starkly: a small % of this capital is committed at community level; much of it exists merely in the form of pledges. Many funds are conceptualised without empirical evidence of mechanisms to generate meaningful, multidimensional impact at community level beyond proof-of-concept. While the urgency of the ocean and climate crisis cannot be overstated, this approach risks misleading perceptions among communities and the wider public. The promise of massive capital inflow may fall short when the systems to ensure real, sustainable and long-lasting impact are underdeveloped. 📈 Catalytic capital is positioned as the spark to help ocean solutions attract private capital in search of market returns and exits. This may fit for a handful of groundbreaking solutions in new markets, but I have yet to witness organisations consistently deliver social, ecological and economic returns at scale, particularly when embedded within vulnerable coastal communities. Are we setting ourselves up to stumble and overlook the ultimate goal: to build resilience among coastal communities on the climate front lines? Restoring our oceans will require substantial capital and efficient organisations delivering tangible impact. The expectation of achieving market-rate returns alongside this impact feels utopic, distracting us from the deeper, long-term work needed. Share your thoughts!

Catch us at the Blue Economy Summit in Mombasa, Kenya, from 2–4 October! 🌊🇰🇪 ABALOBI Co-Founder and Director of Partnerships, Abongile Ngqongwa, will be there to engage with partners and share insights from our market-access initiatives in South Africa. We invite organisations interested in our community-led data technologies to engage with us as we make these accessible to small-scale fishery stakeholders across the Western Indian Ocean. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/daa8RUwF #abalobi #smallscalefisheries #bluesummit2024 #oceaninnovation #blueeconomy #communityled #tech

The Earthshot Prize family are ready for #ClimateWeekNYC! Standby for incredible innovations.

📢 ABALOBI’s Serge Raemaekers has been appointed as a member of the Friends of Ocean Action 🌊 Hosted by the World Economic Forum, this coalition of ambitious ocean leaders is striving to advance action towards #SDG14 by accelerating solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the ocean. Learn more about the Friends here: https://lnkd.in/ex9PBS3n #oceanaction #friendsofoceanaction #oceanleaders #oceanoptimism #sustainability

🌊 Insights from the Ocean Resilience Innovation Challenge (ORIC) Leadership Academy! 🌍 Recently, ABALOBI team members Grizelda LaCock and Angela Heyburgh had the pleasure of participating in the ORIC Leadership Academy held at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). This transformative event hosted by the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance brought together a diverse group of project leaders focused on enhancing coastal resilience and addressing ocean risk. We engaged in invaluable leadership training and connected with inspiring, locally-led ocean solutions from across the globe. The Academy culminated in an Investor Showcase, where innovators shared their groundbreaking work with potential investors, including climate change funds and government representatives. Our sincere thanks to the dedicated facilitators and mentors, including Chip Cunliffe, Jesper Hörnberg, Aoife Hegarty and Moses Kimani, as well as our fellow participants Aqua-Farms Organization - AFO, Mawimbi Ocean Innovations, PescaData, Pezzy Pets, Pula Advisors, Satsense Solutions, Save The Waves Coalition and Sahabat Laut Lestari (SLL Fisheries). We left with renewed optimism and an even stronger commitment to driving positive change in ocean resilience for small-scale fisheries! #abalobi #oceanresilience #innovation #leadershipdevelopment #ORIC #leadershipacademy #ORRAA #resilience #oceansolutions #smallscalefisheries

Jambo, Kenya! 🇰🇪 In partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society we're supporting small-scale fishers of the Chale region of Kenya to usher in a new era in community-driven fisheries management. Characterised by mangrove forest and coral reef ecosystems, Chale is home to a diversity of fisheries livelihoods. The Chale Beach Management Unit (BMU) — led by local fishers — has set several goals for the sustainable co-management of their fisheries, with a governance structure that is one of the most advanced we have encountered. By adopting the ABALOBI FISHER and ABALOBI MONITOR apps, the BMU is able to measure progress against their targets with community-led data collection and visualisation. The apps are available in Kiswahili and configured for the local fisheries context. To encourage sustained uptake and ownership of the tech, we're providing ongoing scenario-based training and support. Our team recently travelled to Kenya to work directly with fishers on optimising data capture, enhancing data logging consistency, and using data visualisation to challenge perceived trends and improve fisheries management strategies. The BMU has demonstrated remarkable enthusiasm in leveraging their data to identify catch trends and assess the financial aspects of their fishing activities, leading to better planning and decision-making. Since the adoption of ABALOBI technology in 2024, the BMU has digitally monitored 3,777 fishing trips, spanning 51,665 units of marine species. Registered Chale fishers have recorded 1,836 fishing entries across 22 different species. We also had the honour of hosting an exchange between fishers from Kenya and South Africa, along with other fisheries stakeholders. At this hybrid exchange, discussions on governance took centre-stage, with participants exploring similarities between the Kenyan Beach Management Unit (BMU) and South African cooperative structures. 💡 We’re inspired to see the Chale BMU fully embracing ABALOBI, referring to the technology as "their app." Our engagements with the neighbouring BMUs of Jimbo, Bodo and Funzi revealed the eagerness of these communities to adopt similar practices. With this successful proof of concept, we intend to extend similar tools to BMUs across Kenya who have shown interest — for data-driven fisheries and thriving communities who nurture healthy, productive ecosystems! #abalobi #WCS #Kenya #BMU #SouthAfrica #smallscalefisheries #governance #fisheries #fisheriesmanagement #communityled #communityledconservation

“Seeing it all come together, I came away thinking that this app is something that could one day reshape the world’s fisheries.” Read this feature highlighting ABALOBI as a ‘digital tacklebox’ and multichannel marketplace that is bridging the divide between fisher and consumer to transform the way we eat seafood. 🐟 https://lnkd.in/dpxsw8MX #abalobi #smallscalefisheries #sustainability #rethinkingsustainability #fisheries #fishwithastory