2024
Turning the tide
Dear Friends
Since taking the helm at BV a little over two months ago, I’ve been on a journey of listening and learning. I’ve had the great privilege of visiting coastal communities across the Western Indian Ocean and West Africa, from BV’s birthplace in Madagascar to my own in The Gambia.
In these places, on the frontlines of our planet’s greatest challenges, where the biodiversity and climate crises intersect most visibly, I’ve witnessed extraordinary potential. It’s the untapped capacity of small-scale fishers, local organisations, and community leaders to drive transformative change. With the right support, their efforts can rebuild fisheries, restore ocean life, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for generations to come.
At BV, we often say that there’s nothing small about small-scale fishers. They’re the hundred million who feed a billion. They’re the guardians of some of the most biodiverse and fragile ecosystems on Earth, and their role in rebuilding fisheries and safeguarding our oceans is immense.
This year, we’ve taken bold steps to strengthen our foundations to better support them. We’ve focused on professionalising BV, scaling our work and maximising impact – investing significantly in the people, systems, and strategies that will allow us to remain agile and achieve our ambitious goals for 2030. And we’ve worked hard to build resilience in the communities we serve and in BV itself. These actions are vital, laying the groundwork for long-term, sustainable growth, and impact at scale.
As eloquently put by our founder Al Harris “conservation is a journey to listening deeply to communities”. These words will continue to inspire us, and our partners, as we work together to restore ocean life and build lasting pathways to prosperity for coastal communities around the world. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. I look forward to continuing working with you all.
Ebrima Saidy
CEO
A MILESTONE IN COMMUNITY-LED MANAGEMENT
JANUARY 2024
In Madagascar, a subgrant to the Velondriake Association marked a paradigm shift with the country’s first Locally Managed Marine Area becoming fully autonomous to lead and deliver grassroots marine conservation and resource management.
A NEW GENERATION RESTORING MANGROVES IN THE GAMBIA
In Sanyang, The Gambia, our partner, the SANYEPD youth association mobilised more than 350 community members from across The Gambia and Senegal to plant 60,000 mangrove propagules. Building on the success of previous years – last year alone saw 12,000 thriving mangroves planted – these events transcend restoration efforts to strengthen collaboration, encourage knowledge sharing, and reinforce communities’ relationships with the environment.
TOWARDS FISHERIES TRANSPARENCY IN MADAGASCAR
FEBRUARY 2024
IIn the face of burgeoning challenges caused by fisheries collapse linked to overfishing and climate change, efforts to foster sustainable fisheries management in Madagascar are impeded by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and human rights abuses, particularly within the industrial sector.
To counter this, the government published a landmark Fisheries Transparency Initiative report to enhance accountability and governance with the disclosure of critical data on fisheries, including those on regulations and revenues, and the highlighting of the government’s recent reforms, such as freezing the industrial fishing fleet size.
PERMANENT PROTECTION FOR THE BARREN ISLES EDGES CLOSER
We had the honour of welcoming not one, but two government ministers on a visit to the Barren Islands Marine Protected Area in Western Madagascar in an unprecedented demonstration of political support for locally led marine conservation and traditional fisheries.
A 20-YEAR JOURNEY THROUGH COMMUNITY CONSERVATION
On the very same beach where it all began, Gildas Andriamalala reflects on a 20-year voyage from intern to country director with Blue Ventures in Madagascar.
RAISING COMMUNITY VOICES TO TACKLE OVERFISHING
MARCH 2024
Rampant illegal, unreported and unregulated overfishing – primarily driven by foreign industrial fleets – has wreaked havoc on small-scale fisheries and linked coastal communities in West Africa. In response, we launched an ambitious advocacy initiative to empower coastal communities in the region to protect themselves from the devastating impacts of industrial overfishing.
INK TO INTERFACE: DIGITISING DATA IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
For decades, small-scale fishers and data collectors across Southeast Asia have contended with complex and labour-intensive methods, relying on manual systems for the entire collection, validation, cleaning, and analysis processes. Here, Dita Septiani, BV’s fisheries and data coordinator for Indonesia, discusses how we are supporting communities with data and systems for adaptive decision making.
MAKING WAVES AT OUR OCEAN
APRIL 2024
We made a splash at the Our Ocean conference in Athens, co-hosting a landmark event that brought together nine African leaders to address the urgent challenges of industrial overfishing and climate breakdown. Commitments made included establishing one of Africa’s largest community-led marine protected areas in Ghana and an ambition to exceed international targets to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 in Guinea-Bissau.
SECURING A FUTURE FOR OCTOPUS IN KENYA
We were featured alongside long-standing partner COMRED in Kenya’s People Daily’s profile of community-led approaches to fisheries closures and the benefits to both people and planet.
MAKING MARINE MANAGEMENT PAY
MAY 2024
We conducted fish value chain assessments in six Beach Management Units on the East African coastline to explore and build on fishers’ understanding of market dynamics, from accessing fishing grounds and processing their catch, through to distribution methods and opportunity for increased financial returns.
MAKING FISHING FAIR IN THE EU
In May, we supported a delegation of small-scale fishers to present an open letter to the EU’s Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans & Fisheries in Brussels. The Make Fishing Fair letter, signed by 40 small-scale fishing organisations and supported by over 20 NGOs calls for the Commission to prioritise small-scale, low-impact fishers over polluting, industrial vessels to create far more jobs, boost nature and halt the decline of Europe’s fishing sector.
TRANSFORMING BOTTOM TRAWLING
JUNE 2024
The BV-supported Transform Bottom Trawling Coalition continues to galvanise a community-led movement for change. In Honduras, Indigenous, Afro-Honduran and local community groups that have historically been excluded from policy-making processes came together with coalition members to support a draft law to protect their coastal fishing grounds from industrial vessels.
And in Liberia, the Liberia Artisanal Fishermen Association joined forces with Chiefs from nine coastal counties to block the expansion of industrial shrimp trawling into coastal waters and protect Liberia’s small-scale fisheries.
NEW COALITION GRANTS PROGRAMME
In a stellar month for the Coalition, global efforts to transform bottom trawling were amplified with the unveiling of a new grants programme to provide direct support to members’ campaigns tackling bottom trawling and rebuilding ocean ecosystems worldwide.
KEWANG: NATURE'S ANCIENT GUARDIANS
JULY 2024
For 400 years, the Kewang of Haruku, Indonesia, have protected the environment through traditional ocean stewardship methods. Now, as climate change threatens vital fisheries, they reflect on their role in safeguarding their home in a changing world. We helped share the community’s story with the world and explored the intersection of climate, conservation, and culture with our short film Kewang: Nature’s Ancient Guardians.
A LEAP FORWARD FOR FISHERIES TRANSPARENCY
In a big week for fisheries transparency, Ghana and the Comoros both announced commitments to join the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI). FiTI is designed to ensure that all fisheries information is transparent and publicly available – a crucial factor for fair, effective and sustainable management. We worked hard to secure the Comoros commitment, with the government signalling its intention to join at our side event at the Our Ocean conference earlier this year.
HARNESSING DATA FOR REBUILDING FISHERIES
AUGUST 2024
Coastal communities in Kenya and Tanzania are transforming their fisheries through data-driven practices. During a collaborative peer learning visit communities shared insights on how they have used data to improve catches, boost returns and contribute to ocean conservation, paving the way for partnership and innovation across the region.
A NEW LMMA FOR TIMOR LESTE
The Ilimano community in Ataúro has declared a Locally Managed Marine Area, revitalising the traditional practice of Tara Bandu – a customary system where communities come together and establish specific rules and restrictions, enforced through ritual and ceremony. The Ilimano LMMA covers 1.34km2 and will be closed to all fishing activities for five years initially. A community-based fisheries monitoring group composed entirely of women will collect essential data during the closure period.
A $15M JOINT COMMITMENT FOR CLIMATE AND HEALTH
SEPTEMBER 2024
We launched a transformative joint pledge with MSI Reproductive Choices to strengthen climate resilience with frontline communities. The commitment prioritises the needs of women and girls living on the frontline of the climate crisis and was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative 2024 Annual Meeting. Together with MSI, we are pledging to reach 1.5 million people in coastal communities across Kenya, Tanzania, and Senegal through integrated community health and conservation programming.
A BLUE MANIFESTO FOR EU OCEAN WEEK
We joined the 140 organisations who called on the newly elected EU institutions to take a series of bold measures to stop the EU’s ocean and coastlines being pushed to the brink, including launching an Ocean Fund and proposing new legislation to ban destructive activities at sea. We hosted a panel of small-scale fishers to share their rallying cry for sustainable fisheries in Europe.
A NEW ERA IN BV'S LEADERSHIP
OCTOBER 2024
We welcomed our new CEO Ebrima Saidy in October. Ebrima joined BV from Save the Children International, and has decades of experience in community-led international development as well as an impressive track record of delivering lasting impact at scale. He took over from our founder Al Harris, who recently stepped back after more than 20 years at the helm.
CHAMPIONING INNOVATION IN OCEAN STORYTELLING
We hosted the Ocean Guardians Film Festival to showcase inspiring ocean stories from the frontlines of conservation. Our debut festival featured exclusive screenings and an interactive webinar exploring the power of video storytelling in ocean conservation.
A CALL TO ARMS TO PROTECT UK SEAS
NOVEMBER 2024
We marked World Fisheries Day by joining forces with Oceana UK, Blue Marine Foundation, and Patagonia to deliver a petition signed by over 198,000 people to the UK government. Together, we’re calling for an immediate ban on bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas to stop the destruction of vital marine ecosystems and ensure our oceans are safeguarded for future generations.
FUNDING FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES FOR IMPACT IN INDONESIA
We spoke to our partners at Tananua Foundation on Flores to understand their experience of collaborating with BV on the frontlines of the ocean emergency. Hironimus Pala discusses the foundation’s commitment to a human rights-based approach and shares how the organisation is embracing data for decision making.
FORGING A PATH TO CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN BELIZE
Belize’s coastal ecosystems sustain livelihoods and provide vital defences against extreme weather. At a recent climate change forum, our Belize team brought together fishers, experts, and organisations to amplify frontline voices and foster collaboration on adaptation strategies.
COMMUNITY ACTION FOR THRIVING SEAGRASS
DECEMBER 2024
BV’s Velondriake science team has been busy conducting a survey in the seagrass no-take zone in Antseragnasoa. They documented their findings to engage the wider community in the results of their collective efforts, which was an abundance of life thriving in the protected area.
PROGRESS ON EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN MARINE CONSERVATION
We signed on to the UN Environment Programme's 10 core human rights principles for private conservation organisations and funders, which launched after rigorous consultation. These principles guide private actors toward a human rights-based approach to conservation, fostering more inclusive and equitable practices that protect and promote the rights of Indigenous Peoples and others in conservation.
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