Rural women in The Gambia restock cockles for climate-resilient livelihoods

In the coastal mudflats of The Gambia’s estuaries in West Africa, a small shellfish is helping communities build climate resilience and improve food security.

Cockles (Cerastoderma edule), once abundant and central to local diets, are being reintroduced through sustainable restocking efforts led by rural women. 

This effort is part of the Climate Resilient Fishery Initiative for Livelihood Improvement in The Gambia (PROREFISH Gambia), a project with investments worth USD 25 million, largely financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Government of The Gambia.

Women driving sustainable shellfish farming 

Women in The Gambia have long worked in lowland rice farming, wading through mud and water. When cockle harvesting emerged, it offered a natural transition which was less physically demanding and located closer to home, making it easier for women to achieve a work-life balance. 

Building on this foundation, the TRY Oyster Women’s Association (TOWA) is leading efforts to train women in the Lower River and North Bank Regions to sustainably restock cockle beds. Through PROREFISH Gambia, women learn how to place young cockles (spats) in sheltered areas near mangroves, increasing their chances of survival. 

“The cockles have burrowed in and taken hold,” said Fatou Jarju, a community representative in Banta Su, pointing to small holes in the mudflats. In Tankular, another woman told the project team: “With more support, we can revive this whole mudflat.” 

With the mudflats and sand banks stocked, the cockles will be ready for harvest within a year when they have fully grown (up to 5 cm). As the cockles grow, so too will the opportunities to expand small-scale artisanal cockle fishing.   

What are cockles and why do they matter? 

Cockles are small and oval shaped with ribbed shells that vary in hues from white to dark brown. Like mussels (Mytilus edulis), cockles are bivalves and filter feeders. But while mussels live in gregarious communities, clustered together in bunches along rocky shores, cockles hide from view, burrowing in the intertidal mudflats or sand banks.  

In The Gambia, cockles thrive in mangrove-lined estuaries where freshwater meets the Atlantic Ocean. Rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals, they are a valuable source of nutrition for coastal communities.  

Cockles also play an important ecological role. As filter feeders, they clean the water by consuming algae and phytoplankton, helping other marine species thrive. They also serve as food for fish and birds, contributing to the biodiversity of mangrove ecosystems. 

How is cockle restocking actually done? 

Cockles are collected from remote – and often difficult-to-access – mudflats or sand banks, then transported to traditional harvesting sites that have supported local communities over generations. A mudflat is considered depleted if only zero to three cockles are found within a one-square-meter transect. 

Women skilfully carry out most of the restocking process, casting freshly collected cockles across bare mudflats or sand banks, mainly during low tide. If the tide is high, juvenile cockles are cast directly into the water to avoid prolonged handling. 

At low tide, thousands of tiny holes – left by burrowing cockles – can be seen across the mudflats, signaling their successful settlement into the soft, nutrient-rich mudflat, or in the firmer, drier sediment beneath the sand bank. 

How are cockles harvested in a sustainable way? 

Coastal communities in The Gambia are adopting a gentler approach to harvesting cockles. 

Instead of using sharp blades, hoes and rake-like instruments, women gently dig through the soft mud with their hands, following the cockles’ traces in the tiny holes they leave behind after burying beneath the surface. 

Once collected, the cockles are washed and shucked – removed from their shells – so they can be cooked or sold at local markets.