Category: Madagascar
A day in the life…
by Kirsty Rankin, BV volunteer, Madagascar Waking up to the relentless crash of breaking waves on halfmoon beach, I groan, turn over, but just before I close my eyes to the temptation of continued slumber I catch the dim glow...
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.
Welcome to the Velondriake JRC / FTM2V
by HERINDRAIBE, Junior Reporters Club, Madagascar Ny FTM2V dia fikambanana hoan’ny Tanora Mpikaroka sy Mpampita Vaovao ato amin’ny faritra Velondriake sy manodidina azy. Ny fomba fiasan’ny FTM2V dia miara-miasa amin’ny projets misy ato amin’ny Blue Ventures sy ny fokon’olona eto an-toerana,...
Farming seaweed without harming the forest…
By Antoine Rougier, Aquaculture Project Coordinator, Madagascar The link between seaweed farming and the forests of Madagascar might not appear obvious at first, but when examined a bit more closely, it starts to make much more sense. Seaweed farming is...
Sea cucumbers paving the way to education
by Fran Humber, Conservation Programmes Manager, London Working from the London office of Blue Ventures, it can be easy to forget, underneath the piles of emails and reports, how the projects our colleagues in the field work hard on actually...
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...
Sign me up for Saturday school!
by Merike Bruen, Education Programme Volunteer, Madagascar As I approached the bright yellow school house that sunny Saturday morning, the shrieks of excited children were already audible. Smiling kids proudly sporting their crisp, new, white UNICEF t-shirts raced to the...
Addressing gender differences in natural resource management
by Kame Westerman, Velondriake MPA Project Coordinator, Madagascar Octopus is the most commercially valuable species within the Velondriake LMMA (locally managed marine area), bringing in a substantial portion of household income. Traditionally, women harvest octopus most frequently, venturing out on shallow...
Getting bogged down in northern Madagascar: news from the blue forests team
by Trevor Jones, Remote Sensing Scientist, Madagascar Greetings from Ambanja, in the north-west of Madagascar, where the Blue Venture’s (BV) Blue Forests and Coastal Communities (BFCC) team is currently recharging their batteries (figuratively and literally) in preparation for the 4th week...
Velondriake’s first permanent mangrove reserve officially closed
by Kame Westerman, Velondriake MPA Project Coordinator, Madagascar The Bay of Assassins, in the southern area of the Velondriake LMMA, is home to vast tracts of mangrove forest. These forests provide local communities with building materials and daily food supplies...
Climate change adaption in southern Madagascar
by Paubert Mahatante, Roger Samba and J. Paul Getty Scholar, Toliara, Madagascar (introduced & adapted by Jo Hudson, BV Science Intern, UK) In this blog entry Paubert Mahatante, Roger Samba and J. Paul Getty Scholar discusses proposed research in the south of Madagascar, to study...
Bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea….
by Caroline De Willebois, Blue Ventures volunteer, Madagascar Descending into the cool turquoise water below, I am overcome with that well-known sense of utter peace that accompanies the stillness and weightlessness of being underwater. After a few days of not...
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...
Setting sail: a brief look at migration in southwest Madagascar
By Kame Westerman, Velondriake LMMA Coordinator, Madagascar Human migration can be influenced by a number of factors – political, social, economic, physical, and even cultural. In southwest Madagascar, where Blue Ventures works, migration is an important factor to consider when...
Great expectations: some thoughts from some of our volunteers
by Cara MacDonald, Blue Ventures volunteer, Madagascar The two weeks I have been volunteering in Andavadoaka have flown by and we have managed to do so much already! In our first couple of days we traveled via pirogue to Lamboara....