Tag: seaweed

Sustainable living from the sea through community-led seaweed farming.

In Madagascar, members of the community of Belo-sur-Mer – primarily women – have taken up the challenge of village aquaculture. I had no future before seaweed farming. My sons had left the village, and I could not support myself because...

/ Oct 27, 2021

New beginnings across the Mozambique Channel

Support partnerships with the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Peace Parks Foundation are set to integrate community health services into coastal resource management efforts in two of Mozambique’s most critical marine ecosystems.

/ May 16, 2016

Aquaculture in profile – Mme Luciene: “I want to be able to send my children to university”

The livelihoods and cultural identity of Vezo people in southwest Madagascar are intimately intertwined with the marine environment. Vezo livelihoods, however, are increasingly threatened by overfishing and mangrove deforestation, largely driven by demand from outside markets. Climate change is also...

/ Nov 7, 2015

Aquaculture in profile – Kirise: “Seaweed farming got me out of poverty, but if I wasn’t motivated, I would still be poor”

“Miarakara zaho (I take care of things). I can afford to buy clothes and food now,” she says, while kneeling next to her thatched home, just steps from the sand’s damp high tide mark on Nosy Tsolike’s beach. From her...

/ Oct 27, 2015

Aquaculture in profile – Jira: “We write our songs to express our love for the lomotse”

Some people write songs about their cherie (dear) to express their love. We write our songs to express our love for the lomotse. That’s what moves us.

/ Oct 12, 2015

Aquaculture in profile – Clarisse & Ringo: “I just hope the fish return”

Two years ago, Clarisse and Ringo packed up their family of nine and moved from Bevohitse in the south of Velondriake to Ambolimoke in the north. They were following the fish.

/ Sep 17, 2015

Aquaculture in profile – Soanatoa: “If you take care of it, then you benefit.”

As he talks, Soanatao draws shapes in the bleached Nosy Tsolike sand with a piece of splintered wood he found in the same spot. He doodles, like one does on a piece of scrap paper while chatting to a friend...

/ Sep 10, 2015

Aquaculture in profile – Marie-Louise: “We are preparing for our future”

The sun is at high noon just a few days after winter solstice in Lamboara. Marie-Louise and five of her fellow seaweed farmers sit in ankle-deep water tending to cords of seaweed. The women laugh, sing and dance while working,...

/ Sep 3, 2015

Condoms, crabs and cottonii seaweed: progress update from Belo sur Mer

From humble beginnings over five years ago, locally led mangrove fishery management initiatives are now flourishing in Belo sur Mer and surrounding villages, alongside community-based health promotion and alternative coastal livelihoods in the form of aquaculture.

/ Jul 22, 2015

Aquaculture under the stars in Tampolove

By Johanna Medvey, Blue Ventures volunteer, Andavadoaka, Madagascar We bump along the sandy tracks leading away from Andavadoaka, perched in our trusty ox carts as the sun rises and tinges the baobab trees pink. Our group of nine volunteers and three staff...

/ Apr 11, 2014

Using the right tools for the job: my experiences with TESSA

by Lalao Aigrette, Senior Blue Carbon Scientist, Toliara, Madagascar According to my colleagues, Kenya is my second home, as this trip marks my sixth visit to the east African country. I recently attended a follow-up workshop about the uses of the Toolkit...

/ Apr 8, 2014

Entering the third dimension in Belo sur Mer

By Jérémie Bossert, Belo Sur Mer Coordinator, Madagascar Finally Madagascar has a democratically elected president! Things here have a tendency to move slowly, be it getting an authorisation signed, ordering a new generator part, or even electing a president. However,...

/ Mar 18, 2014

Development of a community aquaculture project: going beyond for real sustainability

by Minnie Lanting, ex-Velondriake Programme Coordinator, and Antoine Rougier, Aquaculture Consultant, Madagascar This is Blue Ventures’ approach to promoting sustainable alternative livelihoods through our community-based aquaculture programme. Instead of giving one-off donations or handing out money to local fishers, the...

/ Jan 25, 2014

Spicing up aquaculture: experiences from our regional workshop in Zanzibar

by Jo Hudson, Conservation & Communications Officer, London As I stepped off the plane in Stone Town, Zanzibar, the heat hit me like a slap the face and I was dazzled by the sunlight – I thought to myself “Toto...

/ Jan 16, 2014

Staff Q&A with Antoine Rougier, Aquaculture Advisor

In the fifteenth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Antoine Rougier, our Aquaculture Advisor (previously our Aquaculture Coordinator for 3 years in Madagascar), some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your...

/ Dec 6, 2013