Artisan fishers in Tanzania use traditional gear for fishing. 

Crab, one of the company’s most sought after exports, is traditionally fished using a baited line method.  Fishers ply mangrove estuaries in dugout canoes and bait hand lines to lure live crab to the surface.  Hand nets are used at the surface to scoop the crab into the boats.

Cuttlefish are traditionally caught by fishers walking flats during low tide at night.  Illuminating their way using hurricane lamps, fishers prod cuttlefish with spears.  Some cuttlefish are fished using special lures on hand lines.

Finfish are traditionally fished using hand lines.  Fishers use locally built sail powered trimarans or small dhows to trawl or bottom fish along deep reef ledges and open water.  Popular bait includes squid and sardines.  Two to four fishers usually fish on each boat and the catch is shared equally among all crew.  Some fish are also fished using surface drift nets set at night.  Such drift nets are usually set at specific times of the year when certain species of fish, such as the Queen Mackerel (Scomberomorus kanadi) schools in large numbers.  Fishers will drift in small dhows for several hours during the night before brining in their nets and setting sail back to the fish landing sites.  Some ring nets, which are similar to purse seines, are also used.  These are set in open water to catch Yellowfin Tuna, Bonito, Skipjack Tuna, and Rainbow Runner. 

Octopus, which constitutes between 60 - 80% of Sea Products Ltd.’s exports, is traditionally fished individually using a spear.  Attempts to use traps and pots have so far failed to yield commercially viable results.  Seeking the larger individuals, fishers free dive down to 10 metres using a mask, snorkel, and fins, and skillfully use a spear to pry octopus out of their hiding places.  A captured octopus is tied onto a float line while a fisher continues fishing.  In 2009, the Tanzanian octopus fishery is due to undergo Pre-Assessment for MSC Certification.

Prawns are fished using beach seines.  Two fishers will wade out into neck-deep water where they will set a net, up to fifty metres long and two metres high, between them.  The ends of the net are tied to a pole which they use to ‘walk’ the net back to the beach.  The bottom of the next is weighted down and as it is pulled along the sandy bottom, prawns jump off the bottom and into the water column where they are scooped up by the net.  Setting and pulling a net in to the beach will take over thirty minutes.  As this type of fishing is usually done in the early morning when the sea is calmest, fishers usually get no more than five net-sets per day.  There is some bycatch caught in such beach seines.  However, while the main targeted prawns are sold to buyers, the bycatch, consisting mainly of fish such as anchovy, sardine, ocean catfish, as well as a variety of other species, are collected and consumed for home use.

Sand Lobster is a high quality gourmet product.  Rarely seen in the wild, they are prolific in certain areas of Tanzania.  Artisan fishers trap them using nets which they set on the bottom at night.  The lobster get entangled in the nets as they walk the bottom at night in search of food.  They are captured alive and the undersize animals returned to the sea.

Spiny lobster is one of the most important coastal fisheries for Tanzania.  A large percentage of the biggest of the species, the Panulirus ornatus is exported live to the Far Eastern markets of Hong Kong and Singapore.  The largest percentage of all species of spiny lobster in Tanzania are captured by artisan fishers free diving on reefs during low tides.  An octopus is tied to the end of a stick and used to push lobsters out of their hiding places and into a waiting hand net.  This method yield strong live specimens.  A small percentage of spiny lobster are caught using hand made traps.