All posts by Blue Ventures

Blue Ventures is an award winning marine conservation charity. We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communities. On our Beyond Conservation blog you can hear voices from the front line of marine conservation written by our staff and volunteers.

More news from Andavadoaka

1st September 2006 News from Alex Mason – BV Project Coordinator: We’re into week three of the expedition here in Andavadoaka. The open water and advanced dive courses have finished, nearly everyone is benthic enabled and volunteers are starting to...

/ Sep 1, 2006

Another expedition begins…

We have a new group of intrepid volunteers on site who have survived a slightly lengthy boutre journey and have spent the last few days getting to grips with benthic life forms, BCDs and bok bok. It promises to be...

/ Aug 21, 2006

Some contributions from two of our new volunteers, Lexa and Stephen

Lexa’s update: What an amazing first six days at Andavadoaka! To begin our expedition we left Tulear by boutre (a sailing boat). To everyone back home this will initially sound like a fairly normal transfer to site, but let me...

/ Aug 21, 2006

Gapyear.com Case Studies

Two of BV’s previous volunteers are featured on GapYear.com. Caroline Gosney writes about how she took a rather unplanned gap year, after she didn’t get the grades she wanted for uni, which worked to her advantage (she found us)– “I...

/ Aug 16, 2006

The Times Gap Year Show

  What are you doing on the 17th-18th November? We will be exhibiting (our forthcoming expeditions) so come down and see us at The Times Gap Year Show, at ExCeL in London. We’ll be running the stand alongside the Embassy...

/ Aug 15, 2006

BV’s Polish Fanbase

One of our previous volunteers, Aga, has set up a Polish website, describing her experiences on our expedition, even being interviewed in Poland about her trip. Check out her website here.

/ Aug 9, 2006

Coming to a WWW near you soon

Website redevelopment going well at BV Towers. Maddy, office mascot, provided help in the initial stages of the project, but lacked the impetus to see the assignment through to the end. Old website (left) New, clearly improvedwebsite (right)

/ Aug 7, 2006

A treat for our francophone readers – thoughts from Stephanie Pédron, Blue Ventures’ first French field scientist

Le calme est revenu sur la cité perdue d’Andavadoaka… L’autre nuit, une petite tempete a menacé, le ciel a grondé, comme pour signaler son mécontentement… Le lendemain, ce sont les baleines qui sont passées dans la baie d’Andavadoaka, avec des...

/ Aug 7, 2006

Notes from a Pretty Large Island by Jan….

I’ve now been in Madagascar just short of two months with my girlfriend, Abby, who has taken over the Dive Manager’s role. The remoteness of this amazing place has come as a welcome change from the hectic lifestyle of home....

/ Aug 1, 2006

First Blue Ventures TEK report online

Research undertaken by Blue Ventures’ social scientist, Josephine Langley, between 2004 and 2005 used guidelines developed for coral reef managers to document the knowledge of the local Vezo of Andavadoaka. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and the process of documenting TEK...

/ Jul 31, 2006

The World Cup might have ended…

Football match this afternoon against the village a splendid victory for the men’s team: 1-0! Women’s team drew 0-0.

/ Jul 25, 2006

Whales – watching platform

And now here’s a blog update from Lea: Once more I wake to a fantastic sunrise with the early morning rays shimmering off the tropical lagoon that lies approximately 20 metres from my hut. However, on this particular morning I...

/ Jul 24, 2006

BBC Radio 4 Excess Baggage

On 15th July 2006, Richard Nimmo, our Managing Director, appeared on BBC Radio 4’s travel programme, Excess Baggage. Listen to it via the BBC website until 22nd July or get it via our website

/ Jul 18, 2006

Some Sciency Stuff

It’s been an interesting weekend in Andavadoaka on the science front, with visiting teams here from the IHSM (the ‘Institute Halieutique et des Sciences Marines’ – the national marine research institute) and from our project partners the Wildlife Conservation Society...

/ Jul 17, 2006

What the Volunteers Have to Say:

Hello again from sunny Andavadoaka! Today we have a blog update for you from Katia Cherel, who worked as an intern in the Blue Ventures office in London before coming out to join us on site. Here it is: Expedition...

/ Jul 14, 2006