The Toliara region in southwest Madagascar is one of the poorest regions in the world. In Ifaty, a small fishing village in the Bay of Ranobe, the locals also suffer from the consequences of declining fish stocks. Due to unsustainable fishing methods in the region, the livelihood of over 300 fishermen in the village is…
Interview with Neil Garrick-Maidment, Executive Director and Founder of „Seahorse Trust“
By Hannah Schartmann. A warm welcome to Neil Garrick-Maidment, Executive Director at the Seahorse Trust. The Seahorse Trust has the main aim to protect seahorses. Why is it important to protect them? Like so many species in our world, seahorses are going extinct at a very fast rate, which we estimate at approximately 150 million…
Portuguese NGO ‘Ocean Alive’ – Video Story
The marine biologist, Raquel Gaião Silva, made a video about a portuguese NGO named Ocean Alive that is making the difference when it comes to Climate Action. The video shows their involvement with the local fishing community and their fantastic role in protecting the seagrass meadows. Are you curious about it? Take a look! Seagrass…
No-Trash Triangle Initiative – Addressing plastic pollution in Indonesia
The Coral Triangle in South East Asia is home to one of the most biodiverse marine environments on our planet but plastic pollution is rapidly degrading this delicate ecosystem. To prevent the Coral Triangle from being suffocated by plastic, the No-Trash Triangle Initiative was founded on Bangka Island, North Sulawesi, in late 2017 by marine…
The Manta Trust – Protecting rare creatures of the ocean
By Hannah Schartmann. Hi Tam, a warm welcome to the interview. You are working for the Maldivian Manta Ray Project. This project has the goal to protect mantas and devil rays. Why is it important to protect them? Mantas are some of the largest and most intelligent animals in the sea. Their complex behaviours set…
“We Built This City.” – The Oysters of New York Harbor
By Lauren Giglio. How the Billion Oyster Project is Saving the Eastern Oysters of the Atlantic Let’s take a journey together; you are roaming the streets of New York City, people-watching through the large crowds, listening to the taxis and buses beep as they fly by, the aroma of the hotdog cart surrounds you. It…
Marine biologist Jan Verbeek about the challenges in marine conservation
By Nuri Max Steinmann. Jan Verbeek is a marine biologist and scientific diver I met during the Erasmus Mundus master’s programme in marine biodiversity and conservation in Portugal. Since leaving Germany about 10 years ago, he spent the large majority of his time studying and working in the UK where he started his journey as…
Fighting plastic pollution and poverty at once: The Plastic Bank
By Hannah Schartmann. Shaun Frankson is Co-Founder of the Plastic Bank – a project to stop ocean plastic pollution. The motivation of this project is obvious: every minute of every day, tons of plastic get into the ocean worldwide. This amounts to around eight million tons of plastic per year. It is estimated that there…
First A Volunteer, Then A Team Member – Working with Whale Sharks on the Maldives
By Chloe Darwinn. Dhigurah, a narrow island in South Ari Atoll. At three kilometres long it is home to a community of just over six hundred people on land, as well as an abundance of life under the waves. From minuscule planktonic life, to the ocean giant and world’s biggest fish – the whale shark….
For Dr Louise Gentle, conservation is more than preservation
By Kaitlyn Elverson. Dr Louise Gentle is a well-loved wildlife conservation lecturer at the Brackenhurst Campus at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, UK. Her research and work at NTU has stretched over many topics, from why Wombats poop cubes to Yellowhammers, but for this interview, I asked Louise some things that targeted the bigger picture…
