Category: Aquaculture
We’re supporting coastal communities to diversify their livelihoods, developing lucrative sea cucumber and seaweed farms with private sector partners as a way of reducing fishing pressure and alleviating poverty.
Sustainable living from the sea through community-led seaweed farming.
In Madagascar, members of the community of Belo-sur-Mer – primarily women – have taken up the challenge of village aquaculture. I had no future before seaweed farming. My sons had left the village, and I could not support myself because...
The ambitious challenge of community-led aquaculture
Reflecting on a journey of community resilience in southwest Madagascar and learning for the future
Farming the sea: sharing learning in Zanzibar
Our aquaculture team shared their experiences with community-based sea cucumber farming at a learning exchange in Zanzibar.
An aquaculture adventure: visiting Tampolove’s sea cucumber farms
A group of Blue Ventures volunteers recently visited the village of Tampolove in southwest Madagascar to learn about the sustainable aquaculture initiatives there.
Mama Bevata: Tampolove’s new security watchtower
Sea cucumber farmers in Tampolove are now protected by a state of the art watchtower designed to deter potential thieves from making off with valuable stock.
Dingadigana: an alternative livelihood opportunity in northwest Madagascar
As fisheries face unprecedented pressures, coastal communities are looking for economic opportunities beyond fishing. The villages of Ambiky and Ambolobozo have responded with an innovative and promising new aquaculture project: sea cucumber farming.
Aquaculture in profile – Mme Luciene: “I want to be able to send my children to university”
The livelihoods and cultural identity of Vezo people in southwest Madagascar are intimately intertwined with the marine environment. Vezo livelihoods, however, are increasingly threatened by overfishing and mangrove deforestation, largely driven by demand from outside markets. Climate change is also...
Aquaculture in profile – Kirise: “Seaweed farming got me out of poverty, but if I wasn’t motivated, I would still be poor”
“Miarakara zaho (I take care of things). I can afford to buy clothes and food now,” she says, while kneeling next to her thatched home, just steps from the sand’s damp high tide mark on Nosy Tsolike’s beach. From her...
Aquaculture in profile – Jira: “We write our songs to express our love for the lomotse”
Some people write songs about their cherie (dear) to express their love. We write our songs to express our love for the lomotse. That’s what moves us.
Aquaculture in profile – Clarisse & Ringo: “I just hope the fish return”
Two years ago, Clarisse and Ringo packed up their family of nine and moved from Bevohitse in the south of Velondriake to Ambolimoke in the north. They were following the fish.
Aquaculture in profile – Soanatoa: “If you take care of it, then you benefit.”
As he talks, Soanatao draws shapes in the bleached Nosy Tsolike sand with a piece of splintered wood he found in the same spot. He doodles, like one does on a piece of scrap paper while chatting to a friend...
Aquaculture in profile – Marie-Louise: “We are preparing for our future”
The sun is at high noon just a few days after winter solstice in Lamboara. Marie-Louise and five of her fellow seaweed farmers sit in ankle-deep water tending to cords of seaweed. The women laugh, sing and dance while working,...
Condoms, crabs and cottonii seaweed: progress update from Belo sur Mer
From humble beginnings over five years ago, locally led mangrove fishery management initiatives are now flourishing in Belo sur Mer and surrounding villages, alongside community-based health promotion and alternative coastal livelihoods in the form of aquaculture.
Uncovering the hidden power of Population-Health-Environment programmes
Have you ever wondered how offering family planning to communities in Madagascar might be affecting the size of fish in the Mozambique Channel? Or how working with octopus gleaners may be impacting women’s use of contraception? Or how seaweed farming...
A victory for PHE: Blue Ventures wins the 2014 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
Against the elegant backdrop of the University of St Andrews, I spent an inspiring, exhausting, and at times terrifying three days, competing against two other finalists for the 2014 St Andrews Prize for the Environment.