Blue Ventures Works to Preserve Madagascar Reefs
Blue Ventures/Lara DownBlue Ventures
MISSION: Working in locations where the ocean is vital to local cultures and economies, and protecting marine biodiversity in ways that benefit coastal communities.
HQ: London
YEAR STARTED: 2003
CONTACT: [email protected]
PROJECT: By volunteering with Blue Ventures, you’ll learn the diving and scientific techniques used to collect data that’s vital to the management of some of the world’s most biodiverse hot spots and directly contribute to award-winning conservation programs.
DIVE FOR DIVERSITY
Want to fully immerse yourself in protecting marine biodiversity? Join Blue Ventures’ survey team in Madagascar and lend a hand monitoring one of the Indian Ocean’s most extensive coral reefs. Dive training to at least Advanced Open Water is provided for participants who need it. You’ll also get to participate in nondiving research projects like monitoring endangered spider tortoises and using aquaculture to farm sea cucumbers and seaweed.
PICK YOUR BATTLE
Blue Ventures also offers an expedition to Belize, where volunteers help survey and protect the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. During snorkeling and diving excursions in Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve, you’ll work to monitor corals, and fish and manatee populations. Looking for a more hands-on conservation mission? Join the fight against lionfish. Volunteers in this program collect data on population status, diet and reproductive rates while combating the invasive species.
SPONSOR AN EDUCATION
Even if you can’t get in the water yourself, you can still make a big splash shaping the future of these coastal communities. Blue Ventures also works to give children the necessary tools to realize their full potential and advance local marine conservation. By donating to the nonprofit, you’ll help provide uniforms, textbooks, school supplies and scholarships to kids living in southwest Madagascar who would not have access to these resources otherwise.
