Experimental pond finfish mariculture was started in Makoba Bay in 1995-1996 by the Institute of Marine Sciences working with partners from National Center for Mariculture (NCM) in Eilat, Israel and Woodshole Oceanographic Institute, USA (Mmochi et al., 1996). In 2001, Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) won a grant from the Western Indian Ocean Marine Sciences Association (WIOMSA) and conducted an Integrated Mariculture Pond System experimenting with milkfish (Chanos chanos), mullet (Mugil cephalus), rabbit fish (Siganus canaliculatus) and marine acclimatized Zanzibar Tilapia (Oreochromis urolepis urolepis). During the closure of this project IMS conducted a national stake holders workshop disseminating the information to partners in the coastal areas (Mmochi et al, 2004). Milkfish farming in Mtwara started in 2004 with pond farming in Mbuo following the training in Zanzibar which was attended by the Mtwara District Fisheries Officer. The efforts were also taken over by Mnazi Bay and Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park (MBREMP) who supported development of a demonstration pond in an effort to develop alternative livelihoods to the traditional harvesting of the marine resources. The endeavours were not successful (Msuya and Mmochi, 2007). In 2008, WIOMSA won a project from Regional Programme for the Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zones of the Countries of the Indian Ocean Countries (ReCoMaP) projects funded by EU. The implementation of the project was preceded by survey of the ongoing milkfish farming in Tanzania including Mtwara that was found to be scanty (Msuya and Mmochi, 2007). The main objective of the WIOMSA project was to develop one demonstration pond in Mtwara and support two others (By building the main gates) and training farmers the principles and practices of fish farming. At the end of the two years there were some tangible achievements. The two years project managed to develop a 1 ha milkfish demonstration pond and train 22 trainees on all aspects of milkfish farming including site selection, pond construction, pond preparation, fingerling collection, pond management, harvesting and marketing. The project further facilitated 3 othe groups by providing them with gates as a reward for good pond design and construction. At the end a total of 24 ha were developed in Mtwara District alone. The per ha annual production improved from the maximum of 1 ton per ha (Requintina et al., 2008) to a new record of 7.5 tons/ha equivalent to 10000 USD/year (Mmochi, 2010). There are therefore very clear indications that milkfish aquaculture is feasible. However, two years were too short to accomplish everything. Most of the ponds were not dug and farmers were satisfied in building the dikes. Accordingly, half of the pond areas are completely dry most of the time. Only 3 farms are producing more than 1 ton/ha/year which is thought to be economically reasonable but the remaining 12 farms are producing an average of 263 kg/ha/year. Interestingly the low production farms are also the most poorly constructed at a lower average cost of 840 USD compared to 2151 for the 3. A common problem facing all the farmers is availability of fingerlings. The farmers collect fingerlings from the wild with consequences to biodiversity. In some years, especially with shortage of rainfalls, there is are reported serious shortages of fingerlings and most of the ponds are under-stocked From the beginning of the ReCoMaP project to date the number of farmers and ponds have continued to grow. Because of the trends and following advice from ReCoMaP project, Mtwara fish farmers established a fish farmers union named “Umoja wa Wafugaji Samaki Mtwara” translating to union of Mtwara fish farmers. The newly established union has 404 members 152 of whom are women from 30 fish farming groups. The members are mainly from Mbuo, Ndumbwe, Kisiwa and Namgogori Villages out of the MBREMP conservation 2 area. Already six groups from the MBREMP conservation area have applied to join UWASA and it is hoped that all the groups from Mtwara will join. It is against this background that SWISSAID developed interest to try and help in the development of the project.