Episode 9: The Sacred Island    Premiered on PBS January 17 2013    Watch on PBS

In an exotic Zanzibar island it was a classic clash: resort development versus villages dependent on local reefs for their livelihood. But this time the villagers won. Once threatened by resort development, Pemba Island’s spectacular reefs and lagoons – World Heritage candidates – are now managed by, and for, the fishermen. As series host Carl Safina finds out how it all happened, he fishes with the locals in traditional dhows and dugout canoes, and meets the island’s influential Imams whose sermons preach how the Koran calls humans to be the stewards of Creation. Read More>>

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Approaching the island of Pemba from the Tanzania mainland
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Carl Safina arrives at a Pemba fishing village
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Arriving on Kisanjani village beach. Filming anywhere attracts a crowd
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Carl Safina heads out with fishermen from Kisanjani Village
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Carl Safina hauls in nets off Pemba
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Pemba fishermen take fish traps out to the reef. The dugout canoe is made from a single mango-tree log
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Both tourists and local fishermen use Pemba’s pristine reefs
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Hawksbill Turtle on a Pemba reef
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Pemba reef life
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Carl Safina with Sheik Muhammed Suleiman, Imam of Pemba’s Central Mosque
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Imams from many Pemba villages meet to discuss the Islamic approach to conservation
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Girls from the fishing village of Wesha singing for the crowd at a meeting about fisheries
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Patrol boat used to safeguard Pemba’s coral reefs
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Fishing dhows on a Pemba beach
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Kisanjani village beach
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Carl Safina with a happy customer of the village fishermen