Category: Programmes

Group shot

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...

/ Feb 24, 2023
mud crab; sorting; grading; Indonesia

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.

/ Jan 25, 2023

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.

/ Jan 16, 2023
Sadify; clinic consultation; Andavadoaka; community health; Madagascar; HIV; AIDS

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...

/ Dec 1, 2022

‘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...

/ Nov 24, 2022

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...

/ Aug 25, 2022

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...

/ Jul 20, 2022

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...

/ Jul 6, 2022

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....

/ Apr 24, 2022

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...

/ Mar 4, 2022

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...

/ Feb 25, 2022

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...

/ Feb 16, 2022

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...

/ Feb 10, 2022

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...

/ Jan 21, 2022

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....

/ Jan 13, 2022