Belgium and Kenya have a long tradition of collaboration in marine sciences. In 2012 the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Institute (KMFRI) and the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) renewed this collaboration with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). A first step already started under the umbrella of LifeWatch with the recovery of biotic datasets resulting from joint Belgian-Kenyan marine research activities. This data collection combines all biotic data recovered from theses and reports resulting in the Eastern African region conducted between 1873 and 1999.