How Mama Octopus and her female fishing crew make waves saving Kenya’s reefs

Amina leads a team of fisherwomen challenging the status quo as they build a future for their families and help restore marine life

In the shallow waters of the Indian Ocean off Kenya’s remote Pate Island, in the Lamu archipelago, Amina Ahmed leads a group of women in song. They are celebrating finding the lair of their prey. Small bubbles indicate the presence of an octopus, hemmed in between the rocks and coral.

With two pieces of thin, sharpened steel, Ahmed gently lifts the pebbles covering the small opening, exposing a tentacle. A few minutes later, Ahmed has her catch, an Octopus cyanea, a species found in the Indo-Pacific region, off eastern Africa and the Red Sea. This one weighs about 1kg and will fetch about 400 Kenyan shillings (£2) at the local market.