Alternative livelihoods

Introduction

The people of Andavadoaka rely on healthy marine resources for survival. But as coastal populations continue to grow and international fishing companies discover the richness of Andavadoaka's waters, these marine resources face growing pressures that threaten both the biodiversity of the area and the livelihoods of local villagers.

Currently, fishing is the primary source of income for Andavadoaka. In order to protect the region's waters from over exploitation, conservationists are working with community leaders to develop sustainable livelihoods that offer villagers alternatives to destructive fishing practices.

These alternatives include eco-tourism and mariculture such as algae and seaweed farming.

Mariculture

Mariculture: The reef flats surrounding many villages in the Velondriake network offer an ideally placid habitat for Sea Cucumbers, a fact which is now being taken advantage by many within the area. Sea cucumbers are a corner stone of the bêche-de-mer market in Asia and are prized in the region for their aphrodisiac qualities.To this end, prices can reach approximately $220/kg for the majority of the year and rise higher with increased demand at Chinese New Years.

 

"Sea cucumber farming provides an ideal alternative livelihood for the Vezo people as it is an activity that fits easily into their daily lives which are based around the sea" says Georgina Robinson, project coordinator at Blue Ventures who are providing guidance to the prospective farmers on the aquaculture development. "It's relatively simple, with minimal labour and low capital investment, and has no adverse impact on the environment; in fact the pens also help to regenerate severely depleted natural populations of sea cucumbers".

 

Once established, sea cucumber growing pens can be harvested once every three months, providing a family with a new revenue of approximately $60/month. By December 2010, it is expected that over 750 people in the region will benefit from income derived from this activity.

 

Eco-tourism

Eco-tourism: The Velondriake network is situated at the heart of one of the most biodiverse reef systems that the planet has to offer and to that end can provide an unforgettable destination for eco-tourism activities.

 

As of 2005, 17 locals from the area had been trained as tourist guides to take visitors to the the Baobab forests and mangroves, on pirogue fishing trips and on tours of the nearby islands. However, these guides are only employed for short periods of time as beyond those provided by Blue Ventures expeditions in the region, very few tourists visit the Velondriake region, attacted instead to similar Malagasy destinations such as Ifaty and Nosy Be.

 

Plans are currently underway to establish a working tourism association fof the Velondriake region and it is hoped that this body will facilitate the developement of systems to bring more tourists into the region. The future goals of this tourist association are to increase tourist revenue to the area through increasing both the number of tourists to the region per year and to encourage longer stays in the region. This in turn will benefit the local economy through the creation of local and sustainable jobs through encouraging interaction between visitors to the region and local service activities. A series of objectives have been drawn up that must be met in order to ensure that these developments follow an ecologically sound approach and are of measureable benefit to the local economy:

 

-Establish a tourism association to manage tourist development.

-Set up monetary system to ensure overall revenue gain from tourism.

-Construct a community eco-lodge

-Improve transportation infrastructure to increase accessibility for local populace and visitors

-Offer visitors at least five distinct and significant activities to take part in whilst on site including diving, providing the opportunities for ‘homestays' within the Vezo community and providing tours with ecoguides to experience the vast biodiversity of the region.

-Increase numbers of tourist nights within the region to 15,000 per year

-Ensure a tourist impact measurement system is put in place for the region.

 

For more information on plans for developing ecotourism within the region and the current status of the above objective, download the Velondriake ecotourism report available from the Blue Ventures website.

 

Eco-lodge during construction, 2006