Category: Programmes

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...

/ Jan 16, 2014

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...

/ Jan 10, 2014

Safidy at the start of 2014: behaviour change in a time of new year’s resolutions

By Caroline Savitzky, Safidy (Community Health) Programme Coordinator, Velondriake, Madagascar Behaviour change is hard. Anyone who has tried to stick to a new year’s resolution, whether it’s quitting smoking, eating well or being more patient, knows this to be true; especially...

/ Jan 9, 2014

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...

/ Jan 7, 2014

Staff Q&A with Fanjavola Rakotozafy, Community Liaison Officer

In the seventeenth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Fanjavola Rakotozafy, community liaison officer for our sustainable fisheries programme, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your professional background? I studied Geography at the University of...

/ Dec 20, 2013

Staff Q&A with Lalao Aigrette, Senior Blue Carbon Scientist

In the sixteenth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Lalao Aigrette, our Senior Blue Carbon Scientist, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your scientific background? I have a degree from...

/ Dec 13, 2013

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...

/ Dec 12, 2013

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...

/ Dec 11, 2013

Staff Q&A with Antoine Rougier, Aquaculture Advisor

In the fifteenth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Antoine Rougier, our Aquaculture Advisor (previously our Aquaculture Coordinator for 3 years in Madagascar), some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your...

/ Dec 6, 2013

How is your climate literacy?

by Sylvia Paulot, Blue Carbon Scientist, Toliara – Madagascar I recently attended a training on climate change and marine protected areas in South Africa, part of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

/ Dec 3, 2013

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,...

/ Nov 29, 2013

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...

/ Nov 28, 2013

Mapping resources with the communities in the Bay of Assassins

by Katrina Dewar, Field Scientist, Madagascar This was my first introduction to the lives of the Blue Forests team – finally I got to go on an adventure with them! For a whole week we worked on developing resource use...

/ Nov 25, 2013

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...

/ Nov 8, 2013

In search of the elusive event: coral spawning in Madagascar

By Erika Gress, Field Scientist, Madagascar One of nature’s most unusual, mysterious and least witnessed events happens in the ocean; coral spawning. Despite years of data collection and night snorkelling trips, for the BV Madagascar team, this rare sight has...

/ Nov 5, 2013