Question: Why is your location to protect areas in Madegascar, do u come from there?

Sean Clement answered on 16 Jun 2011:

Hey Deborah! No, afraid I’m not from Madagascar! I just lived there in a village called Andavadoaka for a year!

I work for a Marine Conservation Charity called Blue Ventures. We’ve been working in Madagascar since 2003 and have helped to set up a Marine Protected Area there in Andavadoaka. A Marine Protected Area (also known as an MPA) is an place in which people work to do different things to protect the ocean and the marine creatures living within it. For instance, within the MPA there are a number of ‘Marine Reserves’ which are areas (normally entire Coral Reefs) in which all fishing is banned. This is done so that, over time, the fish living in these reserves can grow and breed without being caught by Fishermen. This is to help the local population of fish around the reserve grow. The point of the MPA is not to stop people fishing because, in Andavadoaka, without fishing, there would be no way for many people to get food! Instead, the point is to make sure that people are fishing sustainably, i.e. in away that will make sure that there are fish in the sea for their children and their children’s children to catch.

The MPA we’ve set up in Andavadoaka has been very successful so far and we want to go to other villages and set them up all along the southwest coast of the country!