This is a message we received from Jon Galton, a student from Cambridge University who carried out research on Andavadoaka’s artisanal fishery for his undergraduate research dissertation. After finishing his studies, Jon was traveling in inland Madagascar, some 500 miles from Andavadoaka, when he sent us the following note:
“I was wandering around a dried fish market in Fianarantsoa, generally minding my own business (and showing off my knowledge of Malagasy fish names!), when one of the fish-seller guys with a familiar face said to me “Salut camarade! Andavadoaka?” and I said “Oui!”. It transpired we’d met on one of my pirogue monitoring jaunts, when he’d come down to collect fish. I fired a list of names at him, and we remembered that he’d collected from Ngezy (one of the fishermen that helped with my study) and he waved at pile of varilava (herrings) that he’d collected from him. As Ngezy and I worked together regularly on fish monitoring studies, I think there was a strong chance that I’d measured those same varilava a few weeks back on the beach! “
