Alternative Livelihoods
Along with traditional conservation planning, Blue Ventures works with villages to develop sustainable economic alternatives to overexploitation of natural resources.
Blue Ventures believes that economic development can, and must, go hand in hand with environmental conservation. Villages along Madagascar’s southwest coast are almost wholly dependent upon local marine systems for survival. But destructive fishing practices, rapidly growing populations and the expansion of commercial fishing companies are threatening these vital resources.
Blue Ventures is partnering with local communities in the Andavadoaka region, located along the southwest coast of Madagascar, to develop sustainable economies that will provide alternatives to destructive fishing practices and reduce dependency on threatened coastal habitats.
Sea Cucumber Farming
Sea cucumbers are a highly valuable commodity, sold by the millions to Asian markets as a culinary delicacy and herbal remedy. Because of their high market value, sea cucumbers are being over-fished in the region. Once plentiful in shallow, near-shore waters, many people now resort to deep sea diving in order to locate specimens. Diving not only threatens the sustainability of sea cucumber populations, but also has resulted in numerous deaths of untrained divers.
Blue Ventures has launched a sea cucumber farming project as a way to protect wild populations of the species and to offer locals a safe and sustainable livelihood. Blue Ventures trained village women to grow lab-raised sea cucumbers in shallow-water pens. The women then sell the sea cucumbers to a local fishing company, keeping all the profits and providing themselves with a sustainable source of income.
This project is funded by ReCoMaP, the regional programme for the sustainable management of the coastal zones of the countries of the Indian Ocean.
seaweed aquaculture
The red seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii, known commercially as Cottonii or Eucheuma, are valued for the chemical carrageenan, which is extracted for use by the pharmaceutical and agro-food industries in a diverse range of every-day products including beer, toothpaste and ice cream. Seaweed farming is a multi-million dollar industry worldwide, with the global demand for Eucheuma exceeding 250,000 dry tonnes per year. Madagascar currently accounts for a very a small proportion of global seaweed production despite the fact that much of its 5000 km of coastline provides perfect conditions for seaweed cultivation. Kappaphycus alvarezii is a fast-growing species with an average daily growth rate of 6%. Given its rapid growth rate, it’s possible to harvest and re-plant seaweed lines on 3-6 week cycles.
In January 2010, Blue Ventures initiated a new aquaculture programme within the Velondriake MPA, working to establish seaweed farming as an alternative source of income to fishing. After a series of meetings outlining the project to communities and conducting socioeconomic interviews, a group of 4 families were selected to initiate the project, and were supplied with training, materials and seaweed. Once these first family groups are well established, Blue Ventures will buy the wet seaweed from these farmers to supply an additional six farmers with seaweed for their first unit.
This project is run as a joint initiative between Blue Ventures Conservation and Toliara-based NGO TransMad Development. The fisheries export company Copefrito SA is the main commercial partner that plans to export the seaweed.
This project is funded by ReCoMaP, the regional programme for the sustainable management of the coastal zones of the countries of the Indian Ocean.
Eco-tourism
Eco-tourism is among the fastest growing industries in Madagascar. It is currently estimated that at least half of all tourists arriving in Madagascar each year visit a coral reef area. But the small number of basic hotels now operating around the Andavadoaka region employ few local villagers and give little or no benefit to the surrounding communities.
Blue Ventures is working to develop an eco-tourism industry in Andavadoaka that will provide locals with sustainable incomes as well as a financial incentive to keep local habitats beautiful and healthy. Blue Ventures has trained more than a dozen villagers from Andavadoaka as eco-tour guides, teaching them such skills as safety, cultural awareness, local history, climate and regional ecology.
Blue Ventures is also building an eco-lodge that will be fully owned and managed by Andavadoaka. The lodge will be carbon-neutral, powered by wind and solar energy, and all profits from the lodge will go directly back to the community.
