Rebuilding Fisheries

Newly published research by Blue Ventures provides the first robust scientific evidence that overfishing is taking place in small-scale fisheries in Madagascar.  The two year study conducted in collaboration with the University of Exeter and Louvain Cooperation, is based on data collected by members of fishing communities from the island’s western Menabe region and published ...

New research published this week has shown that community-led marine conservation can increase the size of fish populations − a critical objective for conservationists working to protect coral reefs. The study, published this week in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management, analysed data collected from five community-managed reserves (areas permanently protected from fishing) within the ...

This article was first published as a commentary on Mongabay on April 22nd 2020 Impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on vulnerable communities in the Global South go far beyond the looming public health emergency.  The broader economic and environmental ramifications are of profound importance to biodiversity conservation. How the conservation movement responds will determine our relevance ...

An article has been published in Samudra, the triannual journal of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), celebrating the achievements of the Darawa community in Indonesia, who successfully reopened their first temporary octopus fishery closure in 2018 and have since taken a community-led approach to managing their octopus fisheries. The Darawa community, located ...

Learn how embracing the power of partnerships and networks can help an idea go global. In 2003, one successful fishery closure in Madagascar inspired a new approach to catalysing community-led marine conservation. This is the story of how working with local partner organisations and learning networks enabled that approach to reach nearly 500,000 people across ...

Supporting coastal communities in the Comoros with data literacy Read the full post: Sun, sea and… fisheries data analysis?

Garth Cripps, an independent photojournalist based in Madagascar, has spent many years documenting the unprecedented environmental changes that coastal people in the tropics are living through, and the impacts these are having on their lives. In this thought-provoking and beautiful photo story, published in Hakai Magazine, Cripps focuses on the migrations of Vezo fishers from ...

Community-collected data inspires fishers in the Barren Isles archipelago to adapt their management strategy Read the full post: Every voice counts: a participatory approach to periodic fishery closures

Our oceans are in crisis. The effects of overfishing and climate breakdown are pushing marine life, and the communities who rely on fishing for survival, to the brink.   Yet the crisis of overfishing is both unnecessary and entirely reversible. Fisheries are amongst the most productive resources on the planet, and through local marine management, communities ...

Against a backdrop of extreme poverty, personal loss and a marine environment changing beyond her control… Kokoly lives on a knife edge. Kokoly is a short documentary film, produced by Blue Ventures, and supported by Stories of Change: a project of Sundance Institute, supported by the Skoll Foundation. It gives a snapshot into the life of Madame Kokoly, a ...