Migrant fishers of Pemba: Drivers, impacts and mediating factors

Most of the fishers of coastal East Africa particularly among the Bajuni, Kojani, Macua and Vezo ethnic communities have historically practiced migration. This study explores the strategies used by migrant fishers’ of Pemba in the Western Indian Ocean region. By adopting a modified sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF), the study uses in-depth interviews and questionnaires to explore the life histories of the fishers in migrant communities, their motivations to migrate, and their associated socioeconomic and ecological implications. Results point out to a complexity of factors contributing to migration including natural, to economic and social factors. Interaction of such factors is instrumental in shaping fisher migration as an activity into an important livelihood strategy. The study concludes that SLF provides holistic understanding of migration. However the incorporation of the ‘livelihood spaces’ extends this knowledge by integrating the spectrum of spatial aspects. This understanding is critical in the design of policies and interventions necessary to ensure resource sustainability and secure fishers livelihoods. This multi-method approach is critical in empirical study of fisher migration. •Drivers of migration are fish availability, economic, ecological and socio- cultural.•Access to assets, local institutions and external factors influence decision to migrate.•Migration influences all spheres of life and is best addressed in context of ‘space’.