All posts by Brian Jones

Brian is our semi-nomadic conservation coordinator, currently based in the coastal city of Toliara. He's been working with communities in Madagascar on conservation and sustainable natural resource management since 2006, speaks fluent Malagasy, and is a talented photographer.

Talking ‘pweza’ (octopus) on Pemba Island, Zanzibar

By Brian Jones, Conservation Coordinator, Toliara, Madagascar   (Photos by Brian Jones and Jo Hudson) As far as reccie trips go, there are worse places to be sent than Pemba Island, Zanzibar. Though the coast of southwest Madagascar holds a special place in...

/ Mar 25, 2014

On the road: tales from your semi-nomadic Conservation Coordinator

By Brian Jones, Conservation Coordinator, Toliara, Madagascar  (All photos courtesy of Brian Jones) After almost six years of living in remote villages throughout Madagascar, the modern amenities of Toliara, like hot showers and wifi, were a welcome relief when I...

/ Mar 20, 2014

Andika sur Mer reserve opening: a photo diary

Andika-sur-Mer, a vezo fishing village of just over 200 people located about 20 kilometers south of Morondava on Madagascar’s west coast, closed their first temporary mangrove reserve in December of 2011. In this photo slide-show, our Conservation Coordinator, Brian Jones,...

/ Jul 4, 2013

Staff Q&A with Brian Jones, Conservation Coordinator

In the sixth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Brian Jones, our Conservation Coordinator, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your scientific background? I studied Biology at Penn State University,...

/ May 29, 2013

The choice is yours: Safidy reproductive rights training

By Brian Jones, Conservation Coordinator, Toliara, Madagascar While in Andavadoaka a few months ago for the Velondriake Association’s election and first general assembly of 2013, I was lucky enough to catch the Safidy programme’s quarterly review and reproductive rights training...

/ May 9, 2013

A much needed repose

By Brian Jones, Conservation Coordinator, Madagascar Living in paradise ain’t always easy. Sometimes you just need to… get away. Nowhere better to do that than in my hometown in eastern Pennsylvania in the middle of winter! Huh? Contradictory as that...

/ Feb 25, 2013

Kayaks (and kava) to Korea: an insider’s perspective at the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress

by Brian Jones, Conservation Coordinator, Madagascar We’re seated on the floor in a circle at the Blue Planet Pavilion on the 3rd floor of the International Conference Centre in Jeju-Do, South Korea. Confused passers-by bump into each other and turn...

/ Sep 25, 2012

Lôlô in the limelight at the fano (turtle) festival in Andranopasy

by Brian Jones, Community Research Coordinator, Madagascar I can’t think of anyone who deserved a t-shirt more than Lôlô… a few hours ago he was in tears after one of our guys, Toto, let it slip to him that he...

/ Jul 3, 2012

The patsa express comes to Antanimanimbo (though I would have never noticed it)

By Brian Jones, Belo-sur-Mer Project Coordinator, Madagascar If the village of Antanimanimbo had a street, they’d be dancing in it. The annual migration of patsa (Acetes erythraeus for you sciency types), a tiny shrimp sometimes referred to as “paste shrimp”, has...

/ Apr 20, 2012

Reading the stars under Belo-sur-Mer

By Brian Jones, Community Research Coordinator, Belo-sur-Mer, Madagascar It was early May when we were planning our upcoming activities for the next two months, what with the pending mid-June departure of Charlie, our fearless leader and project coordinator here in...

/ Jun 13, 2011

Lighting up the night in western Madagascar

By Brian Jones, Conservation Project Coordinator, Belo sur mer, Madagascar In social marketing terminology it’s referred to as an “aperture” – a point in time when you have your target audience’s undivided attention, and your message will be most effective,...

/ Dec 7, 2010

Seeing is Believing-Western Madagascar’s first community exchange for marine conservation

I feared a revolt as I brought our group of weary travelers together at dusk, and told them that we’d be having our first evening session with the Velondriake Association committee members that very night. The response from the 16...

/ Nov 18, 2010