- In Cabo Verde, 190 fishers from seven of the archipelago’s 10 islands volunteer with the Guardians of the Sea program, reporting illegal practices and sightings of marine megafauna as they go about their daily fishing work.
- Their presence at sea acts as a strong deterrent against illegal activities and raises awareness among other fishers about the importance of long-term, sustainable marine management, according to a program co-founder.
- Fishers have always been a pillar of Cabo Verde’s economy and identity. The country hosts a fleet of approximately 1,535 vessels, ranging from artisanal to semi-industrial, and the sector provides a livelihood for coastal families.
FOGO, Cabo Verde — Alberto Martius had just returned to shore in his white and blue wooden boat with his 18-year-old son, Leandro. The pair had been fishing off their home island of Fogo in the Cabo Verde archipelago off northwestern Africa. While out, they were also keeping an eye on the sea.
“I’m proud my son is following in my footsteps, protecting the ocean,” Martius told Mongabay. “I feel I’m doing the right thing to protect the sea. Almost every day, I’m patrolling this area to monitor marine animals and make them return as numerous as they were when I was a little kid.”
The Martiuses volunteer with an initiative called Guardians of the Sea that celebrated its 10th anniversary in June. Run by eight local and international NGOs and led by the Maio Biodiversity Foundation at the national level, it trains and supports fishers to serve as voluntary ocean observers as they go about their daily fishing work. Among other tasks, they monitor megafauna and collect data on illegal activities during their fishing trips. Around 190 fishers are involved, working around seven of the archipelago’s 10 islands. The program launched on the island of Maio in 2016 and expanded to its seventh island, São Antão, with 30 guardians, in 2024.
Fishers have always been a pillar of Cabo Verde’s economy and identity. The country hosts a fleet of around 1,535 vessels, ranging from artisanal to semi-industrial, and the sector provides a livelihood for coastal families.
Guardians of the Sea arose out of concerns about overfishing and illegal fishing practices, according to Sara Ratão, who helped develop it during her tenure as marine program coordinator with the Maio Biodiversity Foundation.
“Having worked with the fishing community and monitored marine life for several years, we observed that numerous illegal activities were occurring, often with little government oversight,” Ratão, who is currently a Ph.D. student studying shark ecology at the University of Porto in Portugal, told Mongabay. “While government inspections did take place, they were far too infrequent to effectively control or reduce these illegal practices.”
She listed several such illegal practices and said some are still happening today: Semi-industrial vessels from Cabo Verde fishing within 3 nautical miles of the coast, a practice that’s prohibited with just a few exceptions; artisanal boats fishing near islands other than their home island; divers with scuba tanks pursuing fish; capture of protected species, such as sea turtles and hammerhead sharks; and non-compliance with temporary fishing closures.
What it looks like on Maio
Fishers from Maio conducted a total of 139,181 patrol trips and recorded 2,338 sightings of marine megafauna between 2016 and 2025, Thais Macedo, the program’s coordinator with Maio Biodiversity Foundation, told Mongabay. Over the same period, they documented 513 instances of illicit activities in the waters surrounding the island, mostly involving small-scale nearshore fishing vessels. The Foundation did not provide data for other islands, or for the program as a whole.
Macedo said the monitoring system is not currently intended as an enforcement mechanism or a formal reporting channel to authorities. At present, limited institutional capacity and economic resources constrain authorities’ ability to enforce fisheries regulations consistently, she said, noting that the only national Maritime Police vessel operating around Maio has been out of commission for several months. Instead, she said, the data the fishers collect provide an important baseline for understanding patterns of illicit activity and improving marine management through participatory initiatives.
“The presence of the Guardians acts as a strong deterrent against illegal activities,” Ratão said via email. “Respected Guardians leverage their standing within the community to raise awareness among other fishermen regarding the critical importance of long-term, sustainable marine management.”
The various local NGOs run practical workshops to train the guardians. They cover conservation topics relevant to fishers’ daily lives, such as sustainable fishing, marine protected Areas (MPAs), ecosystem conservation and how to foster community involvement.
40 fishers monitor Fogo waters
On Fogo, an island in the south of the archipelago dominated by a volcano, Mongabay spoke with sea guardian Mauricio Monteiro Rodrigues. He’d just returned from a morning workshop on sustainable fishing practices led by Projecto Vitó, the local NGO that runs the guardian program on Fogo and on Brava Island. The training also taught attending guardians how to report illegal activities to the NGOs and document observations of megafauna, such as humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) and loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta).
Forty fishers have joined the program on Fogo, from four of the island’s seven fishing communities. Projecto Vitó’s two vessels are also involved in sea monitoring. Guardians must patrol the sea at least five times a week with their own boat and comply with fisheries regulations, Rodrigues, a father of two who’s been a fisher for nine years, told Mongabay.
“I decided to join the guardians when I realized that many of us weren’t following the rules,” he said. “I felt surrounded by a lack of discipline.”
Being a guardian also benefits fishers, according to Deusa Araújo, coordinator of Projecto Vitó’s sustainable fishing program. This includes gear for sustainable fishing, GPS equipment, a camera to document wildlife and illegal activities, life jackets and a first aid kit. The program also provides fishers a kit to monitor megafauna and rescue animals in distress, and a handbook containing program information, emergency contacts to report abuse or illegal activities and photos of the various local species for identification purposes. Guardians fill out a daily log to document the species they saw.
For the guardians, the relationship with fellow fishers isn’t always easy. “Other fishers consider me more as an activist than as a colleague,” Marcelino Gomes, who’s been a fisher since childhood, told Mongabay. “Many believe I’ll report them or that I might act as an informer. Not everyone realizes that this work benefits all of us, because we’re committed to protecting the sea that provides a livelihood for all.”
‘Precious’ sea observers
One of the program’s partners, the U.K.-based global NGO Fauna & Flora International, together with the local partner NGOs, recently completed a survey of marine resource use in the Guardians of the Sea’s target areas. It showed most fishing communities, where fishers operate small boats, use fishing grounds that overlap with 22 MPAs, from which larger fishing vessels are excluded. Alice Costa, a grant manager with Fauna and Flora based in Cabo Verde, told Mongabay via video call that the guardians are “precious” sea observers. She noted that one fisher involved in the project recently spotted a magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), which are quite rare in the archipelago.
Being part of the guardians program helps fishers make their voices heard, according to program leaders. “Now, when the fishers go to meetings, they know what to say and how to speak to be heard,” Macedo, program coordinator, said. “The program is structured to help fishers to face conflicts, share what they want for the future, and raise awareness among fishers regarding the critical importance of long-term, sustainable marine management. Guardians are now much better informed to contribute more effectively to decision-making meetings with local authorities and other institutions.”
The program is now well known in the country. “The project’s greatest merit lies in not imposing external solutions, but rather involving our fishers as active participants in protecting marine resources in Cabo Verde,” Carina Fernandes, a professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Cape Verde who is not involved in the program, told Mongabay. “[W]hen fishermen come to a better understanding of the species, the importance of preservation, and the risks of illegal fishing, the fishermen themselves not only improve their practices at sea but also strengthen collective responsibility.”
Similar programs exist in São Tomé and Príncipe, an archipelagic country off the western coast of central Africa. These highlight “the growing recognition of participatory stewardship in small island contexts,” Michele Maccari, a researcher in agri-food economics at the University of Parma in Italy who works in both São Tomé and Príncipe and Cabo Verde, told Mongabay. “In Cabo Verde, awareness-raising activities with small-scale artisanal fishers are a fundamental pillar for ensuring the sustainability of the fisheries value chain. These efforts could be further strengthened by involving additional actors, such as peixeiras (fishmongers), who play a key role in local markets and community dynamics.” Maccari is not involved in the Guardians of the Sea.
After a decade of activity, the Guardians of the Sea program is looking to the future. The next step is to compile a comprehensive report aggregating data from all participating islands and present it to the government, according to Ratão, the program’s co-founder. The idea is to provide an evidence-based overview of prevalent illegal activities and their specific locations so local authorities can prioritize their enforcement efforts toward the areas most needing protection.
“If we preserve the sea and marine ecosystem we can lead a peaceful life through fishing, which is not only our job but also our passion,” said Monteiro, the fisher.
Banner image: A group of fishers upon returning from a fishing trip in the port of Mosteiros on Fogo Island. Image by Alice Pistolesi for Mongabay.
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the editor of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
Cite this article
Alice Pistolesi, Monica Pelliccia (2026). Cabo Verde program and its fishers have been protecting the sea for 10 years. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322706Credits
