by Inés Mas de la Peña

"Where farming replaces fishing and the ocean floor becomes a workspace."

Women of the Tide

This work documents the women of Zanzibar who cultivate seaweed in the intertidal zone, capturing their relationship with the ocean while reflecting on resilience, vulnerability, and the severe climate change impacts on this island.

The co-founder of Coastal Biotech picks us up in a van. We hurry toward it, hoping for air conditioning. It is already warm for early morning. As we drive, he explains that in many coastal villages it is the women who farm seaweed while the men go out fishing.

There is a strong connection to the ocean here, yet many women do not swim. It is a relationship shaped by tradition, stories, and inherited roles.

We arrive at their small facility in Paje. Communication is limited since we do not speak Swahili, but the women welcome us and show us happily around. As we approach the shore, I begin to notice thin sticks rising from the shallow water. That is where the seaweed grows.

The scene feels almost surreal. Tourists are learning to kite surf in the distance, bright kites across the sky, while rows of seaweed farms stretch across the sea beside them.

We walk out toward the farms, the tide shallow enough to walk for long with water at our kneews. Around us, women kneel or sit on the seafloor, water sometimes reaching their chests as they gather seaweed from the lines. I am naturally drawn to the textures and colors of the algae, to the way it tangles between fingers. I grew up by the Mediterranean, where the sea has no tides. In Zanzibar, the rhythm is different. The tide withdraws dramatically, revealing a completely different world where farming replaces fishing and the ocean floor becomes a workspace.

For generations, seaweed farming has provided income and a degree of independence for women here. But the water is warming. Sea surface temperatures now frequently reach around 29°C, stressing traditional seaweed varieties and making them more vulnerable to disease. Harvests have become less predictable.

In some areas, farmers have tried moving their lines into deeper, cooler waters. But in many Tanzanian communities, women were never taught to swim. The sea that sustains them can also be unforgiving. Going deeper is not simply an adjustment. It is a risk.