Category: Programmes
Celebrating fishers on the Kenyan coast
In January this year our partner Bahari Hai organised and hosted a conservation festival in Watamu, a small town on the northern coast of Kenya. They invited us to help with the planning and execution of the activities. Our fisheries...
Launching the first temporary mud crab fishery closure in Sapat, Indonesia
Community-based mud crab fisheries monitoring in Indonesia leads to sustainable practices with temporary fisheries closure.
Putting communities at the heart of coral reef monitoring in Timor-Leste
Our Conservation Officer in Timor-Leste, Armindo Marques, talks about his journey with BV and training a team of Timorese reef monitoring volunteers.
Improving coastal community access to essential HIV services in Madagascar
Through our close links to communities in the countries where we work, we know that HIV/Aids affects many fishing communities. Our director of Community Health, Dr. Vik Mohan, explains...
‘This land is ours’: exploring new partnerships with Tiniguena in Guinea-Bissau
As we approached the remote island of Formosa at sundown after a two-hour boat ride from Guinea-Bissau’s capital Bissau, I was overwhelmed by the vibrant nature that surrounded us. Fish eagles greeted us with eerie calls, and flocks of pelicans...
Nurturing leadership in African marine conservation
This is the first post in a series featuring some of the first marine conservation leaders participating in the African Marine Conservation Leadership Programme that Blue Ventures and Maliasili started in 2020. They share their leadership journeys as part of the...
Voices of young community leaders
Encouraging youth to care more for the environment This is the third piece in a four-part series featuring the voices of young community leaders from Madagascar. Fisherwoman Yolande Soamihaja describes her journey as she inspires fellow youth to take on...
Shrimp return to the locally managed bay in northern Madagascar
By Nantenaina Ardo NIRISOA, Site Leader (Ambanja, Tsimipaika Bay, Madagascar). More than seven years ago, when I was working as a fisheries and aquaculture technician in Ambanja in Madagascar’s northwest, I set up a network of fisheries data collectors. I...
Kenyan communities trial ‘blue loans’ tied to marine conservation
Last year, communities in Kenya’s Kwale County approached our partner COMRED to ask how they could increase local participation in conservation efforts to manage coastal fisheries. Kwale’s coast stretches approximately 250km and is divided into 20 local fisheries management associations....
Improving the health status of coastal communities through health-environment partnership forums
Soon after joining Yayasan Pesisir Lestari (YPL) in 2021, I had the opportunity to meet our partners integrating health interventions into their conservation work at a forum. I was both excited and nervous to host such a forum with YPL...
Nantenaina: Advocating for collaboration, my journey, and hope from COP26 to COP27
Madagascar is my home, and we have just lived through Cyclone Batsirai. More cyclones came after, and there are more to come. We are all affected by climate change, but coastal communities and exposed to diseases. Capping global temperature increase...
Promoting the use of customary laws to improve community fisheries in Indonesia
This is the final piece in a three-part series on the use of customary laws known locally as sasi that seek to harness a more sustainable relationship between man and nature. Sasi is a set of customary laws currently used...
Participatory mud crab monitoring paves way to sustainable mangrove management
The livelihoods of many Indonesian coastal communities, like the Perigi Raja and Sapat communities of Indragiri Hilir Regency of Riau Province, depend on mud crab fisheries to meet their daily needs. The regency has extensive mangrove forests covering up to...
Somali to Kenya: A learning exchange to share knowledge and forge friendships
As we worked to finalise planning for this learning visit, we were unsure how it would turn out. After a year without guests, when COVID-19 travel restrictions eased late last year, we were excited about hosting representatives of Adeso, Secure...
Community conservation offers hope for sustainable fisheries on the Kenyan coast
The situation It used to be easy for fishing communities on the Kenyan coast to know when the seasons would change, the winds would peak, and the sea would be safe to access because the weather forecasts were more stable....