Following several months of collaboration, Satlink and Somalia-based NGO MARCOD Center (Marine Research and Coastal Development Center) have signed an agreement to bring Project ReCon to the country. This collaboration aims to reduce the impact of marine debris, and also to contribute to community resilience by increasing artisanal fishers’ safety and wellbeing at sea.
‘Fishers’ safety is crucial for coastal communities all along the Somali coast. Likewise, marine debris and stranded fishing equipment have been a visible and growing challenge for our coastal communities. Project ReCon gives us access to technology to tackle these issues in both a practical and sustainable way,’ said Abdishakur Farah, co-founder and the director of MARCOD Center.
Somalian geography and oceanographic conditions, combined with the proximity to the tropical tuna fishing areas, make this a key area for Project ReCon, providing a long-term and scalable solution for reducing the impacts of marine debris. This agreement marks a turning point in the recovery of end-of-life fishing technology in Somalia, opening new possibilities for local fisheries and environmental management along mainland Africa’s longest coastline.
‘We are so happy to welcome MARCOD Center into the Project ReCon network. In a coastal region as sensitive and challenging as Somalia, we cannot think of better partners to bring this project to life,’ said Kathryn Gavira, head of science and sustainability at Satlink.
‘Together, we are not only tackling marine debris and advancing fisheries sustainability, we are also building stronger coastal communities in the long term.’
Satlink’s Project ReCon is a unique industry-led circular economy initiative for the reuse and recycling of end-of-life echosounder buoys. With support from the purse seine industry, including companies from all major fleets operating in the Indian Ocean, the project expects to prioritise buoy re-use around practical, community-oriented applications that enhance maritime safety, such as repurposing recovered devices as tracking or VMS tools for local fishing boats operating in strong currents and challenging conditions. These devices will also support marine research and environmental monitoring, aligned with local needs and existing institutional frameworks.
MARCOD Center and Satlink are establishing a central hub for the storage and recycling of any recovered fishing gear that is not suitable for local reuse. By bringing in knowledge and protocols developed through collaboration with ReCon’s founding partner Tangaroa Blue Foundation, these devices will generate additional revenue for the project through local resale of components or recycling of gear materials.
