Off the coast of Tanzania is an island called Misali which is known to have an abundance of hawksbill turtles, flying foxes, coconuts crabs and… octopuses. Due to a local Islamic myth, the place is important to many Muslims in the area — in fact, “Misali” means “prayer mat” in the local Kiswahili language. The Muslims of Misali have long lived on a diet of fish and in particular octopus however, according to the Atlantic, “overfishing, climate change, and oil exploration have threatened the ecosystem” which means that the octopus population has dropped off dramatically. So some Muslim residents decided to appeal to the community’s Islamic consciousness by using verses from the Quran “to promote conservation.”
“Whether you catch small-size fish, damage coral reefs, or use drag nets in seagrass areas … [it] is forbidden in the Islamic point of view,” says Ali Said Hamad, a field officer at local nonprofit Mwambao Coastal Community Network who began using this strategy a few years ago. “We should use our resources in a wise manner. That’s why there is mizan—an Arabic word which means balance, but balance in the sense of sustainability.”
Since the faith-based strategy has gone into effect, Mr.Thani reports that octopus regeneration efforts have recently “got very good results.” The octopuses are heavier now, commonly growing to twice the size before the new strategy. “We left octopuses of 1kg and now they find ones of 2-2.5kg.”
