Marine Protected Areas and their fisherman

One of the groundbreaking projects going on at Blue Ventures (BV) in
Andavadoaka is related to the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Basically the villages choose their best fishing reefs and put them in the MPA, which means that they have agreed not to fish there anymore. This will hopefully allow fish stocks to replenish and increase, and then overflow from these sites so that the fishing in the area will become more sustainable for the growing and future population.

What is unusual is the gusto with which the fishermen and villagers have taken to the project, even though they are giving up their best fishing sites. They have seen from previous (BV) projects in the area, ie ‘Octopus no-take zones’ that these initiatives really can work and that their catch can increase by initially NOT fishing at critical times.

Setting up the MPA involves lots of visits to all the villages, meeting with all the Nahudas (chiefs)and snorkeling the proposed sites. We then need to dive the sites, assess their worth, map and stake transects so that science studies (both benthic and fish) can be undertaken.

I spent a day on a motorized pirogue (a hollowed out tree fishing boat, with an outrigger to keep it from falling over, and a small motor) visiting the villages, organising meetings, sites etc. We braved the waves on the way to Nosy Ve
(‘Nosy’ means island in Malagasy), although I'm not sure why all the boys get to be at the back and the girls had to sit up front and get battered by the waves,
very refreshing though on such a warm day!

Really interesting to see the fishermen get so animated and involved with the project, drawing maps, describing the depth of a site (a fisherman’s metre is his arm span), what fish they might catch there etc. The ambience was also helped by a storm which was passing overhead so that there was a strong wind and rain and we were in the most secure little school room on the island, with chalk and a blackboard, outside the most fantastic dark looming clouds, bright sea and spectacular rainbow! We spent the night on a neighbouring island. Hoping to sleep out
on a sail on the beach after our fish and rice dinner with a lovely campfire.
But the rain stopped play and we had to drag the sail into a small hut
with 6 of us packed like sardines, but hey we were dry! I awoke to the sound of
noisy mosquitoes in the morning,4am, and had to relinquish the sail, as the
fish were ready to bite.

I made a baby cry mainly because I am a scary white person. Its not the first time I have got this reaction, but the parents think it is pretty funny. I also tried to find the best and most scenic lavatory, but on a small flat island with not really any vegetation this can be quite a hard task, so a slight rocky outcrop at one end of the island just out of view from the village was a lovely spot for ermmmmmmm, enjoying the crystal clear water at 6am!

We had rice pancakes for breakfast before attending more village meetings before we were out to GPS the potential MPA sites. As the depth sounder failed, we had to send
down a manual one, namely our local staff member ‘BIC’ who with the aid of a dive computer would collect the depth of the reef after free-diving for us. Apparently there were some good reefs but by the time I jumped in we had drifted back over to the deep blue areas. I did manage to see a few notable fish and some good coral though, and I avoided all the jellyfish, winner! Very pleased to get out of the sun, though I still feel as though I am rocking on the boat. Really exhausting for a couple of hours work, but oh so rewarding.

The Baobab Forest with a few friends

We decided to take a walk to the Baobab forest. The trees are absolutely fascinating. They have huge trunks which store water and are leafless for nine months of the year. As the zebu carts really are quite uncomfortable to ride in and these forests aren't really very far away it seemed a good idea to walk and our plan was to play 'distressed bird' calls and watch the birds come in to defend their distressed but very digital friend.

Baobabs are always very charismatic and it was a nice long walk into the forest until one of my walking sandals broke! Well, it had got me there at least, but then I was a bit stuck. Thankfully a drawstring belt came to my rescue and I was able
to hobble about on the really sharp limestone. There were lots of butterflies, a few
birds (very upset!) and a couple of snakes which were definitely the highlight. Of
course they really aren't that different from the ones that we occasionally see
around site, but it is just great to see them (a large male and a mini female) and even being black and white they are still well camouflaged. They weren't really phased by our presence at all, or the fact that I was trying to get my camera as close into their face as possible (to try and get it into focus.)

However, if this had been a Boa (a 3m long one has been seen in the spiny forest before) I would be reacting in a completely different manner, but little harmless snakes are different. Thankfully there are no venomous ones here.

My previous comment about the Zebu carts being very uncomfortable now had a new significance as with a broken shoe I had to take one back to the village. To be fair these were the healthiest Zebus I have seen since being here, with nice shiny coats and big round bellies. But the ride was still uncomfortable, almost even more so as we were sitting on the edge of the cart and we literally galloped down a rocky
broken path. So much so that Clio (who was with me in the cart) was quite another shade of pale as every now and again she would nearly fall out backwards. It was actually a bit scary, so at the end we tried to sit inside the cart. But then we were afraid that the whole thing might just topple over! However, on the bright side although we were going so fast we thought that we might beat the others back and be able to go for a swim! But they actually walked in a direct path and only took 5 more mins than us even though we were going at full pelt on the windy road.

But hey, it was just another little adventure.

The Flamingoes Goes

January 25th 2007

The rain came down and down and down. So there really was not much diving to be done. But this meant that the inland lakes were hopefully filling up. A few of us took a quick walk into the village to wake up one of our local staff members, Thomas, and ask him to show us to the lakes. Of course he was more than happy to oblige (all our local staff are fantastic). We walked and walked and passed lake after lake, getting hotter and hotter, the umbrellas went up, but still nothing! Please, not a long walk in the 35 degree heat of the day to see a couple of Zebuis (the local cows with a hump) in the newly greened grass.

'One last lake!' came the call and then suddenly we walked into a flock of flamingoes. Hoorah! Of course they were pretty far away in the lake but as these are only occasional lakes, and are really just depressions in the ground, we could just roll up our shorts and wade through the mud and slime to get a closer look. It was pretty slippy but we made it to the next clump of grass with cameras intact. It didn't look as if we could get any closer, so we decided not to go much further as there was not much added benefit and we were able to watch from there as the pink mass of birds moved around. A few others trudged on and thankfully they disturbed the birds so that they flocked and flew and flew all around and swirled and then landed. A truly amazing and wild sight.

The flamingoes are only found here in Madagascar at this precise time of year, and we went on a walk to find them and we were successful and located them on the lake.

Of course when we returned to site those who had not gone to find them saw a small flock of flamingoes fly by. But that isn't quite the same. We had made the effort and we were rewarded by seeing them in their natural habitat on the lake. Excellent!