The acoustic monitoring focuses on the two areas of Tanzania that are well known to have high levels of blasting activity over many years: Dar es Salaam, and Tanga. Equipment was constructed using local materials where possible. A triangular metal frame was welded by local craftsmen in Zanzibar, heavy weights to hold the acoustic equipment to the sea bed were used gerry cans that previously held cooking oil, that were filled with concrete.

The metal frame was wrapped in used bicycle inner tubes to prevent abrasion to the sensitive equipment (add photos). Finally the gear was transported via truck, high speed ferry, and boat to the deployment location

How to get involved

Sea Sensors is an acoustic data project that collects underwater blast data to help provide quantitative spatial information on the incidence of the problem over time, that will enable targeted enforcement.

The project is funded through Code for Africa’s innovateAFRICA programme.

Code for Africa (CfAfrica) is Africa's largest data journalism and civic technology initiative, operating CitizenLabs across the continent to help fast-track digital innovation to drive social change.

innovateAFRICA is the continent’s largest fund for supporting civic media experimentation and digital news startups in everything from data-driven journalism and investigative reporting, to newsroom management, audience engagement, digital convergence, and media business models.