Earlier this week, the two mangrove reserves opened again to legal harvest…
By Kame Westerman, Velondriake MPA Project Coordinator. Mangroves are important habitats for juvenile fish, crabs, shrimp and sea cucumbers. Mangrove forests are also popular fishing areas for many local villages, and, without proper management, can become over harvested. In order to protect these...
Visit from northern fishers and women’s association lunch- a busy weekend
By Kame Westerman, Project Coordinator. From Friday to Sunday a group of fishers from Diego (in northern Madagascar) visited to learn about Velondriake’s creation, evolution, and activities. The group of 13 visited sea cucumber and algae farmers , a permanent...
Local University Students visit Blue Ventures
By Kame Westerman. Each year, university students from Tulear travel for two weeks along the southwest coast of Madagascar to visit conservation programs and see what is working well on the ground. This last weekend, twenty students (including four from...
Team Zanga (Sea cucumber in Gasy) waded out during low tide in search of the illusive sea cucumbers
By Matt Hitchiner. Volunteers get muddy spending a couple of days helping in the construction of a new sea cucumber pen for the students in Tampolove, a small village in the South of Velondriake. Once the delivery of juveniles arrives on the 23rd of September it...
Exploring the sea floor
by Kame Westerman, Project Coordinator, Andavadoaka. Standing on Split Rock, with the high-tide watermark well above my head, I’m astonished at how much the tide changes throughout the day; only five hours ago, these rocks that I’m now surrounded by...
Being Creative
By Kame Westerman, Project Coordinator, Andavadoaka. Thanks to a generous donation by a former Blue Ventures volunteer, members of the women’s association in Andavadoaka are currently receiving training in embroidery and tailoring. For four weeks, the women are spending several...
A sustainable slaughter
By Kame Westerman, Project Coordinator, Andavadoaka. For the Velondriake equivalent of the glorious 12th, the opening of the Nosy Hao Octopus reserve is something of a reserved affair… The procession has snaked its way down the beach with spears, masks...
The festival of Vezo Aho was the culmination of a year long social marketing project …
By Jessie Scurfield. The festival of Vezo Aho was the culmination of a year long social marketing project which uses marketing principles to communicate the conservation/ ecological problems associated with some of the fishing methods used by Vezo. The use...
Ah, the jungle. It’s full of beautiful scenic views, majestic streams and waterfalls…
By Jacob Meyer. Ah, the jungle. It’s full of beautiful scenic views, majestic streams and waterfalls, melodic symphonies that come from tropical birds, monkeys that hand you fresh fruit and coconuts, relaxing nights in hammocks near the cozy fire at...
Why would I want to be on a beach holiday when even the chores bring a genuine smile to my face?
By Neil Hagan. “This is not a beach holiday” – a favourite saying of our fearless (except when you mention floating, smiling vampires) expedition leader. Katie, I happen to agree with you, this is certainly not a beach holiday. I...
The trek, well what to say…?
By Christopher Webb. An eerie quiet sets over Pulau Tioman as bags are packed and the volunteers of expedition 7 prepare to go their separate ways. No more shall Yu Lin’s laugh echo round the dive shop. No more shall...
The Unpredictable Sea
By Jon Lange . The livelihood of the local Vezo people is completely dependent on the sea. This is, after all, why we are here: we are providing the science to help the Vezo understand how make the most of...
Beach holiday…?
By Chris Webb. Before I delve into the ongoings of week 4 I feel it's appropriate to summarise the first half of Expedition 7...
The sun came up just as we did
By Anna Westland. 4am. I manage to grab my alarm before it goes off – my hut mate gets cranky enough when I’m up at 7 – and stumble around a bit, looking for rash vests and bits of my...
Thoughts from shore
By Laurenne Schiller. From this angle, I can observe at least seven distinguishable shades of aquamarine in the ocean below me, and there’s not a cloud in the sky...