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In a positive stride forward for Madagascar’s mud crab fishery, stakeholders from across the sector have joined forces to work towards a more sustainable and secure future.  In Morondava – a coastal town in western Madagascar and an important hub for the local mud crab fishing industry – crab fishers, government representatives, civil society organisations, ...

Blue Ventures has released a new Explore Photo Story with photos and text by Louise Gardner. Madagascar’s mangroves are in trouble, and finding a viable alternative to mangrove charcoal is crucial if they are to be saved… Discover the unlikely saviour in this fuelwood dilemma in Greener charcoal. This project was funded by UK aid from ...

When communities establish temporary fishery closures, the impacts they experience go far beyond improved catch rates. The process can also build skills, leadership and cohesion within communities, improve relationships with stakeholders, formalise community rights to fishing areas, and increase the involvement and representation of women in fisheries management. Discover more in Beyond catch: the broader ...

Blue Ventures has released a new Explore Photo Story with photos by Leah Glass, and test by Cécile Schneider and Leah Glass. It tells the remarkable story of the annual Indian mackerel fishery closure in northwest Madagascar, and the hope, questions and challenges that surround it. See for yourself whether the sacrifices made by the Antafiambotry ...

The community in Popisi village, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, took a bold step towards sustainable management of their octopus fishery by deciding to close a highly productive fishing site for three months. This is the first time the temporary fishery closure approach has been used by a community in the Banggai Laut regency.   Blue Ventures ...

Blue Ventures has collaborated with the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) to develop a new guide on the co-management of fisheries and coastal environments by local communities and government. This guide aims to provide support and advice to the growing number of communities in ...

After four years championing the rights and needs of Madagascar’s small-scale fishers, Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy has won the prestigious Whitley Award for local conservation leaders in the Global South. Rakotondrazafy received this award on 1 May 2019, in recognition of her work coordinating the MIHARI Network, Madagascar’s network of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs). Coastal communities ...

New research published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management aims to help organisations engaged in community-based marine management and conservation initiatives to successfully employ participatory methods in developing their programmes. When it comes to the management of natural resources, it’s now widely recognised that the local communities who rely on them for food and ...

Blue Ventures has released a new Explore Photo Story with text by Ben Honey, and photos by Ben Honey, Louise Jasper, Anne Guillaume and Adrian Levrel. Every day in the remote coastal village of Antanimanimbo, people fish for crab in the mangroves. However, their isolation means that they struggle to make a living from fishing alone. ...

After ten years of developing a model for community-based sea cucumber aquaculture with coastal fishing communities, Blue Ventures shared its knowledge outside of Madagascar for the first time at a learning exchange in Unguja, Zanzibar. At the request of FAO Tanzania, four members of Blue Ventures’ aquaculture team travelled to Unguja in early February to ...