Tag: rebuilding fisheries
‘Polvo’ and participatory mapping in Mozambique
It’s a good job I don’t mind getting my hands dirty! I’m standing on an island in the bay of Mocimboa da Praia in northern Mozambique with the sun beating down, and a group of about ten fishermen crowded around...
Filming with the stars
After years of wanting to tell the story of Blue Ventures' integrated Population-Health-Environment approach in a visual and personal way, the opportunity has finally arrived.
Tsy veloma fa mandra-pihaona! (It’s not goodbye, but see you next time!)
By Shawn Peabody, Former Country Director, Madagascar It took me 30 hours to get to Andavadoaka the second time I went there. I took the octopus truck – and I was lucky in that I got a seat at the...
Sustainable tuna fisheries management in the southwest Indian Ocean
by Charlie Gough, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, UK Flying into Maputo, Mozambique in November 2013 I was excited and a little apprehensive. I was representing Blue Ventures at the 4th annual forum of civil society organisations (CSO)/private sector (PS) for...
Tsy manavaky: female fishers find strength through learning
By Olivia Kemp, Sustainable Fisheries Programme Manager, Toliara, Madagascar Andavadoaka beach, 6am. As our team loaded up the comarine pirogue with our gear, we scanned the cloudy skies for signs of what weather surprises might be in store for us...
Development of a community aquaculture project: going beyond for real sustainability
by Minnie Lanting, ex-Velondriake Programme Coordinator, and Antoine Rougier, Aquaculture Consultant, Madagascar This is Blue Ventures’ approach to promoting sustainable alternative livelihoods through our community-based aquaculture programme. Instead of giving one-off donations or handing out money to local fishers, the...
Spicing up aquaculture: experiences from our regional workshop in Zanzibar
by Jo Hudson, Conservation & Communications Officer, London As I stepped off the plane in Stone Town, Zanzibar, the heat hit me like a slap the face and I was dazzled by the sunlight – I thought to myself “Toto...
Staff Q&A with Frances Humber, Conservation Programme Manager
In the eighteenth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Frances Humber, our London-based conservation programme manager, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your professional background? Despite the cliché, I had decided...
Making an IMPAC at the International Marine Protected Areas Congress
by Olivier Raynaud, Maintirano & Barren Isles Project Coordinator, Madagascar Following Geeling, Australia in 2005 and Washington DC, USA in 2009, the third International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3) was held in Marseilles, France in October 2013. Jointly organised by the...
A meeting of minds at GCFI’s lionfish sessions
After attending the recent launch of the Regional Lionfish Strategy at the International Coral Reef Initiative general meeting one month earlier, I was excited about taking the next step in collaborative efforts to control invasive lionfish. This time, it involved...
From imperilled parrotfish to invasive lionfish – the ICRI GM28 was (almost) all about the Caribbean
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), formed of 60 members comprising governments, international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, held its 28th General Meeting (GM28) in Belize City, October this year. A year ago, Blue Ventures joined this global partnership, which strives...
Staff Q&A with Jen Chapman, Conservation Coordinator, Belize
In the fourteenth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Jen Chapman, our Conservation Coordinator in Belize, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your scientific background? Being brought-up by a biologist,...
PHE is alive and kicking: inspiration and endorsement from Addis Ababa
By Laura Robson and Caroline Savitzky The excitement was palpable as we gathered with almost 200 of the world’s finest Population-Health-Environment (PHE) practitioners, researchers and advocates in Addis Ababa for the International PHE Conference earlier this month! With all of...
Reaching the hardest to reach with reproductive health choices
Two boys splash across the shallows as the tide goes out in the channel by Begamela, a small fishing community on Madagascar’s southwest coast, chasing after their model pirogues, adjusting the sails and setting them off in a race towards...
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...