Category: Madagascar
How is your climate literacy?
by Sylvia Paulot, Blue Carbon Scientist, Toliara – Madagascar I recently attended a training on climate change and marine protected areas in South Africa, part of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
Mapping resources with the communities in the Bay of Assassins
by Katrina Dewar, Field Scientist, Madagascar This was my first introduction to the lives of the Blue Forests team – finally I got to go on an adventure with them! For a whole week we worked on developing resource use...
Reaching the hardest to reach with reproductive health choices
Two boys splash across the shallows as the tide goes out in the channel by Begamela, a small fishing community on Madagascar’s southwest coast, chasing after their model pirogues, adjusting the sails and setting them off in a race towards...
In search of the elusive event: coral spawning in Madagascar
By Erika Gress, Field Scientist, Madagascar One of nature’s most unusual, mysterious and least witnessed events happens in the ocean; coral spawning. Despite years of data collection and night snorkelling trips, for the BV Madagascar team, this rare sight has...
Longing for a carbon project
by Sylvia Paulot, Blue Carbon Scientist, Toliara – Madagascar For Mamelo Honko, a community based association for mangrove protection in Ambondrolava, southwest Madagascar, International Mangrove Day (held on July 26th) is one of the rare occasions to share publicly their...
PHE arrives in Belo sur Mer!
By Vik Mohan, Medical Director Last month I visited Belo sur Mer to witness the excellent progress that Lison Garrel has already made in implementing our new Safidy community health programme in the area, integrating it into our existing community-based mangrove...
A summer of youth-led activities in Velondriake
By Paul Antion, Velondriake Education Coordinator, Madagascar Our education team has been busy facilitating an expanded range of extracurricular activities during the long summer break in Velondriake, as this is a vital time to continue engaging our scholars in...
Coast-to-coast fisher exchange: from reef octopus to spiny lobster
Lobster fishers from Sainte Luce travelled almost 1,000 kilometres across southern Madagascar to learn from Velondriake’s experience of temporary octopus closures Blue Ventures is working to support some of Madagascar’s most isolated coastal communities to manage their fisheries and marine resources. Starting with a...
Happy Birthday Blue Ventures and Happy Birthday Safidy!
By Vik Mohan, Medical Director This year, my annual trip to Madagascar coincided with two important anniversaries. Not only is Safidy, our community health programme, six years old, but we are also celebrating ten years of Blue Ventures’ work in...
My village outreach tour experience with the Safidy team in Velondriake
By Lison Garrel, Safidy (Community Health) Programme Coordinator, Belo sur Mer Last month the Belo sur Mer team travelled to Andavadoaka to attend the annual Blue Ventures conference. We spent four productive days catching up with colleagues from all over Madagascar,...
Blue forests: progress made and looking forward
By Trevor Jones, Geospatial Analyst and Manager, Vancouver If someone had told me three years ago that I would come to work in Madagascar’s mangrove forests, I wouldn’t have believed them. Fast forward to July 2011 and I found myself commencing...
Building reef resilence: my experiences from Zanzibar
by Rado Lebely Botosoamananto, Terrestrial & Fisheries Scientist, Madagascar I was told the first time I travelled outside of Madagascar, that while this may be a first for me, it won’t be the last time I leave; and it must...
Staff Q&A with Sophie Benbow, Sustainable Fisheries Programme Manager, Madagascar
In the eleventh instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Sophie Benbow, our Sustainable Fisheries Programme Manager, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your background? I originally started, as I think...
Uncovering family planning needs in Belo sur Mer
By Lison Garrel, Safidy (Community Health) Programme Coordinator, Belo sur Mer My involvement with Blue Ventures started at the beginning of 2013, with a two-month mission to Belo sur Mer on Madagascar’s west coast. The aim: to conduct an assessment...