Category: Series
Celebrating World Fisheries Day in Comoros
This World Fisheries day, we are celebrating a new initiative for marine conservation and fishery management in the Comoros.
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,...
Open source conservation
Blue Ventures' Al Harris writes his thoughts on the future of conservation from the front line of our work in Madagascar.
Divided by sea, united by vision: a community exchange across the Mozambique Channel
As the clock neared midnight on a beautiful starry night on the coast of southwest Madagascar, eight sets of bemused and weary eyes peered out at us from the dark depths of a seafood collector truck. Our visitors had spent...
Turning the tide on marine plastics
Let’s set the scene, we’re on a beautiful white sand beach, dotted with palm trees; a remote tropical paradise, miles away from human habitation. As the tide retreats what’s that left behind in the strandline? Intermixed with the usual bits...
Making my mother proud…
I feel like I’m gaining skills that will help me to accomplish my goals and hopefully continue to make my mother proud as well.
A little step for me…. One giant leap for octopus fisheries management
Not only was it my first time in the “Old Town”, the beautiful heart of Zanzibar’s Stone Town, where the labyrinth of alleyways transport you to another time, and the historical monuments and museums bear witness to the cultural and artistic...
Through school I know that I’m capable of achieving much more…
I know that staying and finishing school will help me get somewhere where I’m fully satisfied. Doing something other than living day-to-day, doing small jobs, hauling cement or moving rocks. Through school I know that I’m capable of achieving much...
Girl power
My goal in completing school is to become a midwife. I see the need for women to have someone they can go to and trust with anything, especially young girls.
Dreaming of university
I don’t know of anyone else who had dreams of going to university as a kid. It isn’t something that many people from here do. No matter what happens, I have to keep trying, I have to find a way...