Zanzibar · Sea Cucumber Aquaculture

Sea Cucumber Aquaculture in Zanzibar — Restoring the Ocean's Abundance

Asili Company produces premium, wild-ranched sea cucumbers from Zanzibar's seagrass meadows — through joint venture aquaculture with coastal communities who protect their marine ecosystems.

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Our Product

A-Grade Bêche-de-Mer from Zanzibar's Pristine Waters

Asili Company produces premium bêche-de-mer/trepang from Holothuria scabra (sandfish) — our sea cucumbers are wild-ranched in permanent, community-governed no-take marine reserves across Zanzibar's seagrass meadows providing essential ecosystem services to these habitats. Our sea cucumbers grow at natural pace in clean, undisturbed protected areas that are governed by adjacent coastal communities. The result is a product of exceptional quality — traceable from hatchery to harvest, sustainably produced, and equitably sourced.

Most global supply comes from overfished wild stocks, polluted waters, or intensive pond farms. Asili Company's sea cucumbers live their lives in some of the cleanest waters in the Western Indian Ocean, in habitats that are healthier because of their presence — not in spite of it.

This is product for consumers who understand that provenance, purity, and production methods matter.

Holothuria scabra sandfish sea cucumber in shallow seagrass habitat, Zanzibar

Aerial view of sea cucumber ranching pens in Zanzibar seagrass meadows

How We Work

Regenerative Aquaculture,
Built on Ecosystem Health

Healthy ecosystems produce healthy sea cucumbers. Healthy sea cucumbers produce premium product. Environmental stewardship is not a side benefit — it is our production methodology.

Sustainable Juvenile Sourcing

Asili Company re-wilds areas where sea cucumber populations have been reduced to non-viable reproductive populations with a mixture of sustainably wild-sourced juveniles from surrounding areas, and with hatchery-produced juveniles from local hatcheries. We are currently constructing our own site-based hatchery and nursery facilities, producing the seed stock needed to scale our ocean-scale rewilding of this endangered species across Zanzibar's seagrass meadows.

Community Joint Venture

We enter joint venture agreements with Shehia Fishing Committees — local marine governance organisations with the mandate to manage their adjacent coastal ecosystems. They establish permanent no-take zones where all fishing ceases. Communities commit to full marine protection; Asili Company provides infrastructure, juvenile sea cucumbers, technical support, pre-harvest wages, and market access.

Wild Ranching

Juveniles are stocked into protected grow-out areas within these no-take reserves. Sea cucumbers grow in their natural seagrass habitat under community protection and management — monitored, maintained, and secured by the people who call these waters home.

Harvest & Processing

Mature animals are sustainably harvested and processed into A-grade bêche-de-mer/trepang and other requested products. Processing follows strict quality protocols to deliver product that meets the expectations of our international clientele.

Revenue Sharing

Revenues are shared between Asili Company and partner communities under transparent joint venture terms 1:1. Communities receive direct financial returns that incentivise continued protection and expansion of no-take reserves. This is not a livelihoods development project — this is a production partnership where Asili Company only profits when our partners do too.

Scale & Replicate

As communities see the returns, neighbouring Shehia Fishing Committees seek to join. New no-take reserves are established, new production areas come online, and the total area of protected marine habitat grows. The model is designed to compound.

Community members walking to sea cucumber harvest at low tide in Zanzibar

Why It Works

A Virtuous Cycle of Production and Protection

Asili Company's model works because every element reinforces the next. There is no tension between ecological restoration and commerce — they are structurally inseparable.

Communities are the rights-holders who govern inshore marine areas across Zanzibar. Any operation that does not provide equitable returns for their stewardship will ultimately fail. Revenue sharing is not philanthropy — it is how we secure long-term access to the best production areas.

Product quality depends entirely on ecosystem health. Sandfish in degraded habitat produce inferior product. Permanent marine protection is our production strategy.

Healthy seagrass meadows produce healthy sea cucumbers. Healthy sea cucumbers produce premium bêche-de-mer. Premium product generates revenues for communities. Revenue-earning communities protect and expand their no-take reserves. More protected marine area means more healthy seagrass. The cycle continues — and grows.

+30

Community Ranching areas
by 2027

100%

No-take protection
within ranching areas

Night-time sea cucumber weighing and monitoring at aquaculture site

Where We Work

Zanzibar, Tanzania

Asili Company operates across Unguja and Pemba in the Zanzibar Archipelago — some of the most productive marine habitats in the Western Indian Ocean, with extensive seagrass meadows that once supported vast populations of commercially valuable sea cucumber species.

Decades of unregulated fishing have reduced sandfish to functional extinction across much of their former range. Asili Company is reversing this — systematically, community by community, seagrass meadow by seagrass meadow. We operate in partnership with the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar and the Ministry of Blue Economy and Fisheries. Fully permitted and CITES-compliant.

Islands
Unguja & Pemba

Community Protected
Ranching Areas

+150ha

Fully protected seagrass meadows
by 2027

Collaborate With Us Us

We Are Looking For Partners

Buyers & Sales Partners

We are seeking buyers who value the highest quality bêche-de-mer/trepang — product from animals that lived their lives in pristine seagrass habitat, not in polluted waters or intensive pond systems. We also seek sales partners who can place our product in front of consumers, chefs, and distributors who understand that provenance and production methods define quality. If you supply restaurants, retailers, or markets where premium, sustainably sourced seafood commands the respect it deserves, we want to hear from you.

Investors & Philanthropists

We are seeking capital to scale our hatchery capacity and community partnerships — to support more Shehia Fishing Committees in setting aside their seagrass meadows for sustainable aquaculture. Every investment expands both our production base and the total area of permanently protected marine habitat. This is a business that grows by restoring ecosystems, and it generates returns by keeping them healthy. We are looking for investors who understand that the most durable businesses are the ones aligned with the systems they depend on.

Science & Research Partners

We are seeking research partners to advance the evidence base for sea cucumber reintroduction at scale. We need science that validates the ecosystem benefits of rewilding seagrass meadows with their native abundance of sea cucumbers — the effects on seagrass productivity, carbon sequestration, sediment health, coral reef function, and broader marine ecosystem recovery. Our production sites offer a living laboratory for applied marine science with direct conservation and commercial relevance.

Implementation Partners

If you are a government, development organisation, or community group seeking to develop sustainable sea cucumber aquaculture in tropical coastal areas, Asili Company can provide the technical model, training, and operational frameworks. Our approach has been designed to be replicable across any tropical coastline where sandfish habitat exists and where communities are ready to transition from extractive fishing to regenerative aquaculture.

Our Partners & Supporters

Blue Pioneers Accelerator 2026

Asili Company is a proud alumni of the Blue Pioneers Accelerator — an intensive leadership programme hosted by UC Santa Cruz that builds capacity for solving complex ocean conservation challenges through systems thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and rapid solution development.This year we will host the Blue Pioneers Oasis Investing Course in Zanzibar and are currently recruiting collaborators and participants, please reach out through the application link below. Zanzibar and East African Community residents are strongly encouraged to apply!

Applications can be made on the BPA site, if you wish to discuss collaboration opportunities please reach out via email. Apply to BPA 2026 →

Blue Carbon Plus (BC+) TRAFFIC International Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar Blue Pioneers / UCSC

Featured In & Learn More

Global Aquaculture Advocate Impact Entrepreneur Blue Ventures / FAO Zanzibar Training UN Africa Renewal ▶ The Surprising Splendour of Sea Cucumbers (YouTube)

Asili Company team consulting with Zanzibar fishing community on boat

Community site assessment for sea cucumber aquaculture on Zanzibar sandbank

About

Built on a Decades of Experience

Asili Company was founded by three directors with over 20 years of combined experience across aquaculture, marine conservation, and coastal community development in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean. This has brought valuable insight into what makes aquaculture in the marine commons successful, and why many fail: ventures that operate in community resource areas that treat communities as anything other than equal partners are destined to fail.

Production models that are built on genuine partnerships, where communities govern their own marine resources and share directly in the value those resources generate, succeed where others have not.

Asili Company was built on that principle — we only profit when our partners do too, and only when the underlying ecosystem our production model relies on, seagrass meadows, is treated with the respect and appreciation they deserve.

Timothy Klückow

CEO & Technical Director

Aerial drone view of sea cucumber grow-out pens with guard hut at low tide

Contact

Speak Directly With Our Team

Whether you are a buyer, investor, researcher, or potential partner — reach out directly to the relevant member of our leadership team.

Timothy Klückow

CEO & Technical Director

Sea cucumber production, aquaculture science, hatchery operations, research partnerships and investment inquiries.

aquaculture@fullcircle.dev

Alexandra Garcin

Marketing & Sales Director

Product inquiries, buyer relationships, sales partnerships, and distribution.

markets@fullcircle.dev

Daud Salum

Director of Operations, Zanzibar

Zanzibar operations and partnership inquiries.

zanzibar@fullcircle.dev