Category: Don’t Miss

Some of the best posts from our archive!

Toudani: inspiring a connection with land, ocean and culture

Women in Fisheries 2: an interview with Nurmayanti of FORKANI

/ May 24, 2019

International Year of the Reef: why 2018 is the year to get involved!

Coral reefs are facing increasing global threats, but there’s still hope for these vital ecosystems...

/ Feb 7, 2018
Pygmy Blue Whale

The whales are coming: cetacean surveys around Ataúro Island

Blue Ventures staff and volunteers join Karen Edyvane of the National University of Timor-Leste in her yearly quest to study the pygmy blue whale migration.

/ Dec 13, 2017
Blue Ventures volunteers and staff on Nosy Vé prior to the opening

A unique opportunity to experience community-based fisheries management

Madagascar volunteer Jessie Skedd shares her insight after witnessing the opening of octopus fishing grounds following a period of temporary closure.

/ Sep 15, 2017
Lambaora mangroves southwest Madagascar

Conserving the Bay of Assassins: the story so far

From village meetings to mangrove mud, this is the story of three years of effort from coastal communities to protect the mangroves of the Bay of Assassins in southwest Madagascar

/ Jul 26, 2017

What does kung fu have to do with octopus fishing?

The making of “Tovo the octopus gleaner”, a Vezo film featuring intense kung fu action and a mysterious octopus mermaid designed to spread good fisheries practices!

/ Mar 14, 2017

A year of self critique and tough decisions

Over the past year, three of our senior staff in Madagascar have been working with the Earth Skills Network to reflect on, and improve, the management of our conservation programmes.

/ Jan 19, 2017

Working across sectors for real change: community health workers advance marine management in their villages

As communities in Velondriake voted an unprecedented proportion of women and youth into the committee governing their locally managed marine area, our teams in Belo sur Mer and Maintirano have been busy training community health workers to engage more people in...

/ May 18, 2016

Elections bring new leaders and energy to governing Madagascar’s first locally managed marine area

Women and youth now make up a resounding 85% of Velondriake’s management structure! As turmoil returned to Malagasy high politics last month, the Velondriake Association – responsible for the governance of Madagascar’s flagship Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) – demonstrated...

/ May 4, 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

New partnership brings vital health services to isolated fishing settlements in the Barren Isles archipelago

Blue Ventures links up with JSI/MAHEFA to provide family planning options and basic healthcare to remote communities in the Indian Ocean’s largest locally managed marine area.

/ Jul 30, 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

Lights, Camera, Mangroves, Mosquitoes!

Tahiry Honko is a community mangrove carbon project being run by our Blue Forests team with the local communities in the Bay of Assassins, Southwest Madagascar.

/ Jun 26, 2015

Open source conservation

Blue Ventures' Al Harris writes his thoughts on the future of conservation from the front line of our work in Madagascar.

/ Apr 16, 2015