Dr Narriman S. Jiddawi’s passion is the ocean — its unfathomable depths and profound mysteries.

A marine biologist, she has carried out extensive research on marine life in Tanzania’s ocean waters such as marine mammals, turtles, crustaceans, sharks and fish.

She is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Marine Sciences with extensive experience in fisheries management, cultivation of marine fish for food, and issues encompassing women in development.

She has also been involved in the development of WIOfish, a database which includes all available information about small scale fisheries in the West Indian Ocean region, including the Tanzanian coast.

Dr Jiddawi was involved in the formulation of several major government policies affecting marine resources: the Tanzania Prawn Fishery Management Framework of 2004, the Zanzibar Fisheries Policy of 2002, and the Zanzibar Environmental Policy of 1998.

Dr Jiddawi helped establish, and continues to advise, a local NGO in Kizimkazi, Zanzibar — the Kizimkazi Dolphin Tourism Association — to manage dolphin tourism activities, adding a marine science perspective to sustainable tourism and marine conservation.

In collaboration with the Department of Environment and the Department of Fisheries, Dr Jiddawi established the Zanzibar Turtle Committee to work with local communities to ensure that the turtles are protected.

Dr Jiddawi, together with other members of the Institute of Marine Sciences, initiated an integrated mariculture pond system, which included fish, bivalves and seaweed, to reduce pressure on the reefs from fishing and compensate for declining fish populations.

This environmentally friendly technology is now spreading to other parts of Zanzibar and the Tanzania mainland, as well as along the East African coast as far as Mombasa and Malindi.