The 7th Bonthe Oyster Festival, held on May 23-24, 2025, on Sherbro Island in southern Sierra Leone, once again demonstrated the transformative power of community-led initiatives in coastal conservation, gender inclusion, and regional collaboration. The festival, which began in 2015 as a local campaign to support women oyster harvesters in marine protected areas, has grown into a vibrant annual event that now symbolizes empowerment, entrepreneurship, and ecological stewardship in the region.

The festival has also revitalised sustainable oyster harvesting across communities, from York Island to Gbomgboma and Kingjimmy, enhancing livelihoods. Beyond its economic significance, the event serves as a platform for exhibition of innovations in value addition, processing, packaging and marketing of oyster and other shellfish products.

This year’s celebration, supported by the UK-based Whitstable Oyster Trading Company, attracted over 100 participants and caught the attention of the West Africa Shellfish Knowledge and Outreach Hub (Shellfish Hub). One standout feature was the Boat Safety Competition, aimed at addressing the risks women harvesters face when navigating coastal waters in unstable canoes. Supervised by the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration, the competition offered hands-on training in rescue techniques, safe navigation, and basic life-saving skills.

“This is more than a competition, it’s life-saving training. We are teaching women how to survive on water while protecting their livelihoods,” - Dr. Salieu Kabba Sankoh (festival organizer), Fourah Bay College.Another highlight was a lively culinary competition that featured innovative value-added shellfish dishes, including spice-smoked oysters and other shellfish delicacies. These creations not only cater to local palates but also elevate shellfish as premium products with national and export potential.

“What we’re seeing here is more than food, it’s empowerment, education, and ecosystem conservation,”- James Green, Whitstable Oyster Trading Company.

How about a regional-scale mangrove and shellfish festival for West Africa?

The Success of the Annual Bonthe Oyster Festival has laid a strong foundation for a broader vision: the scale-up to a Regional Mangrove and Shellfish Festival across West Africa. The Shellfish Hub sees the initiative as a compelling model that combines local knowledge, academic input, and international partnerships to build resilient shellfish economies rooted in healthy mangrove ecosystems.

Dr. Isaac Okyere, Coordinator of the Shellfish Hub and a special guest at the festival, emphasized the growing regional momentum.“This festival goes beyond Sierra Leone. From Benin’s Mangrove Festival to sustainable shellfish initiatives in Ghana and The Gambia, we are witnessing a shared movement. A regional festival is not just possible, it’s necessary. It will allow us to showcase our progress, share best practices, and push for supportive policies.”In the face of mounting threats like climate change, overfishing, coastal degradation and reclamation of coastal ecosystems for infrastructural development, a regional festival could serve as a unifying platform for advocacy, knowledge exchange, cultural celebration, and economic empowerment for shellfisheries stakeholders. The West Africa Shellfish Knowledge and Outreach Hub remains committed to collaborating with coastal communities, researchers, policymakers, and global partners to scale local successes and drive sustainable change across the region.