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...

/ Oct 2, 2013

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...

/ Sep 30, 2013

Making a splash in Belize

By Jared Katzen, BV Volunteer, Belize 31 August 2013 There’s only a week left of our expedition and I can honestly say that this has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. While many volunteers come to...

/ Sep 27, 2013

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...

/ Sep 25, 2013

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...

/ Sep 23, 2013

A disgusting but fascinating discovery!

By Gizem Poffyn, BV volunteer, Belize Day 1: Yesterday night the stars were beautiful; shining bright in a clear black sky. The sea was calm and the stingrays came very close to the beach to try and catch the crabs....

/ Sep 19, 2013

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,...

/ Sep 16, 2013

Lobsterfest 2013: a photo diary

by Jen Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize Placencia’s 2013 Lobsterfest was more about lionfish than the traditional fishery! SEA‘s third annual lionfish tournament was implemented with the support of Blue Ventures and TIDE, seeing three dive teams remove almost 600 lionfish...

/ Sep 10, 2013

Nature on your doorstep: adventures on the Belize Barrier Reef

by Saskia Ponce, Centro Escolar México Junior College student, Belize Foreword by Jen Chapman, Belize Country Coordinator Centro Escolar México Junior College (CEMJC) is a Belizean tertiary education institution in the Corozal District. Its mission is to provide opportunities for students from...

/ Sep 4, 2013

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...

/ Aug 19, 2013

Three cities, five days, six presentations: lighting fires in the US

By Vik Mohan, Blue Ventures’ Medical Director I recently returned from a whistle-stop one-week tour of three US cities, where I was working to raise the profile of Blue Ventures’ integrated Population-Health-Environment (PHE) approach, sharing the results of our work,...

/ Aug 14, 2013

Searchin’ for urchin

By Joakim Andersen & Sabina Larsson, BV volunteers, Belize Sabina 12 meters below: Point number 1: Dictyota 20 mm, point number 2: Halimeda 75 mm, point number 3: Dictyota again, 20 mm, … point number 10 – no idea what...

/ Aug 8, 2013

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...

/ Jul 26, 2013