A song of change in Madagascar brings goosebumps and tears
As a marine ecologist and self-acclaimed nerd, I get excited when I see a graph, especially one charting fish abundance or coral cover. But there are myriad ways to share tales of change beyond data, especially where numbers don’t convey...
Learning and growing together: improving the effectiveness of MPAs needs everyone
Across the world’s oceans, there are thousands of square kilometres of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), but ensuring their effective management is still a work in progress
A fish out of water and into a data lake: Blue Ventures attends Tableau Conference
Three marine ecologists walk into a Las Vegas convention centre… but the power of data is no joke!
Kola tea, crabs and key informants
[avatar user=”Charlie” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”http://blog.blueventures.org/author/charlie/” target=”_blank” /] by Charlie Gough, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, UK I drink tea in the afternoon, primarily because I am very ‘English’, but also because coffee seems to have a strange effect on me past...
Women octopus gleaners and loan sharks in Mozambique
The second update from my time in northern Mozambique, advising local NGO AMA and their Edinburgh-based partner Bioclimate on community-led octopus fishery management… Walking around the small and quiet village of Quiwia with a group of fisherwomen, we see racks of drying octopus lying in...
‘Polvo’ and participatory mapping in Mozambique
It’s a good job I don’t mind getting my hands dirty! I’m standing on an island in the bay of Mocimboa da Praia in northern Mozambique with the sun beating down, and a group of about ten fishermen crowded around...
Sustainable tuna fisheries management in the southwest Indian Ocean
by Charlie Gough, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, UK Flying into Maputo, Mozambique in November 2013 I was excited and a little apprehensive. I was representing Blue Ventures at the 4th annual forum of civil society organisations (CSO)/private sector (PS) for...
Staff Q&A with Charlie Gough, Senior Marine Scientist, Madagascar
In the twelfth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Charlie Gough, our Senior Marine Scientist, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your scientific background? Academically: a BSc in marine and coastal ecology...
Telling our story: capturing the complexity of Blue Ventures’ integrated work
By Charlie Gough, marine scientist, and Laura Robson, community health coordinator What do you get if you put twelve evaluation specialists in a small room with four Population-Health-Environment (PHE) [1] practitioners? Five hours of mind-blowing conversations about capturing the complexity of...
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it’s bat fish and sea robin! The bemused wanderings of a marine biologist lost at sea…
by our anonymous contact with BatFish & SeaRobin, Madagascar During a post dinner discussion with a colleague in Belo sur Mer, he mentioned that during his trip to the islands of Kirindy Mite, approximately 20 km west of the village...
Nosy Hara: the coral island
I was exceptionally excited to be asked to join a team of scientists to help undertake marine resilience surveys in the Nosy Hara archipelago.
Girl power: the role of Ghana’s fishmongering women
By Mebrahtu Ateweberhan, Ghanaian Research Team, 21st Febuary 2012 It is early morning in Miemia Village, Western Ghana. The sky is hazy from the dust of the recent revisit by the Harmattan winds that mingles with the smoke coming from...
Different fish, same problems…
by Charlie Gough, Marine Research Coordinator, Madagascar& Ghana What makes two communities that live over 5000km apart and different oceans struggle daily with the same problems? When you know that both communities live in coastal villages where the population doubles every 20...
A Carnivorous Appetite
by Charlie Gough, Marine Research Coordinator, Madagascar We have now successfully completed a number of dives on the reefs of the Barren islands, on the western coast of Madagascar, and despite our wide eyes at the wonderful reefs sparkling with...
Talking about Turtles
by Charlie Gough, Marine Research Coordinator, Madagascar As the afternoon draws near, a crowd gathers in the centre of the small market town of Maintirano in western Madagascar. Men, women and children find their perches out of the strong rays...