Bahari Yetu Scalable marine monitoring for marine ecosystems and blue finance

Bahari Yetu is developing a low-cost marine ecosystem monitoring platform designed for tropical seagrass and coral reef ecosystems in East Africa. The system combines sonar habitat surveys, underwater video monitoring, and geolocated seagrass imaging to generate repeatable indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem condition. Data is processed locally using AI-assisted tools to produce metrics on fish presence, habitat structure, reef condition, and seagrass cover.

The first deployment is underway in the Menai Bay Conservation Area in Zanzibar, where a six-month baseline study will establish the first operational monitoring dataset for the site. This pilot will validate the monitoring protocol and demonstrate a scalable approach to coastal ecosystem observation.

The Nyamanzi site will also function as a regional training hub, building local capacity to deploy marine monitoring systems across East Africa.