October 2013 Newsletter

LAGON BLEU
Newsletter October 2013
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi
Blue Lagoon and Coral Reef Monitoring
Volunteer Programme
Since the 23th of October, our volunteer programme is being advertised on WorkingAbroad, a
worldwide database for humanitarian, teaching and environmental volunteering projects. The name
of our ‘Eco Volunteer Programme’ is replaced by ‘Blue Lagoon and Coral Reef Monitoring Volunteer
Programme’.
With the help of WorkingAbroad, we are trying to have volunteers periodically. The volunteers are
involved in the monitoring of the reef in the Blue Bay Marine Park and in the Pointe d’Esny Lagoon.
The range of projects include ‘Lagoon Monitoring’, ‘Beach and Mangrove Cleaning and Monitoring’
and ‘Local Community-based Projects’.
The volunteers and the data they collect are essential for Lagon Bleu, because the data gathered by
the volunteers will be used for the evaluation of threats and causes. With the aid of this information,
we can create a strategy of protection and surveillance of the coastal areas in order to keep
protecting the lagoon on the long-term.
Introducing: Our New Team Member
This is Hannah, our new Lagoon Monitoring
Assistant. She is a third year student studying
Conservation Biology at Plymouth University.
Hannah is passionate about marine conservation
and has previous experience working with sea
turtles in Turkey. After completing her degree
she hopes to continue working with sea turtles
and other marine animals across the globe.
Lagoon Monitoring: Fish Species & Fish Monitoring
The Lagoon Monitoring Team have been working hard organising and collecting data on the fish
species seen in the lagoon. We have been able to add several new marine organisms to our species
list that have not been observed by the Lagon Bleu team before which is great news! This includes
the dragon wrasse, an oriental flying gurnard, geometric moray eels and an arceye hawkfish. This
month we have observed a total of 78 different species!
The illegal fish monitoring continues to be part of our work, and both Mahebourg and Blue Bay
coastguard were visited to learn more about their role and what we can do to help them. They were
both very positive about stamping out any illegal activity going on in the lagoon and we look forward
to working in collaboration with them in the future.
Oriental Flying Gurnard
Dragon Wrasse
Eco Guide: Mauritius Marine Guide Programme
The ‘Eco Guide Programme’ is being replaced by the name
‘Mauritius Marine Guide’ since the start of the first lecture.
This because the course is only focused on the marine
environment in Mauritius. With the help of the Field Guides
Association of Southern Africa, we identified the core course
content. We are in the final stage of preparing the training
manual for publication. We are reflecting on the unique
Mauritian environment to make the courses more valuable
and specific, with the consequence this will be more
beneficial for the participants of the Mauritius Marine Guide
Programme.
On the 17th of October, the first lecture of the Mauritius Marine Guide started with six participants.
The Mauritius Marine Guide Programme has a total of nine participants. The course takes place once
a week, on every Thursday. Topics discussed in the lectures are ‘Introduction to Marine Guiding’ and
‘Historical Human Habitation’.
Past Event: Mangrove Cleanup
On the 27th of October, from 9h00 till
12h00, our Mangrove Cleanup Event
took place. In only three hours, the
Lagon Bleu team together with around
40 people of the community collected
and removed approximately 500
kilograms of waste from the mangrove
area by London Way.
The waste was separated in eight categories:
 Transparent plastics (except plastic bags);
 Opaque plastics (spoons, milk bottles, bottle caps);
 Plastic bags and wrappers (transparent plastic bags);
 Polystyrene (take away boxes, blocks);
 Cans and metal wrappers (aluminium steel);
 Glass;
 Paper (and cardboard) and rubber (shoes, sandals);
 Textiles and miscellaneous.
The group was split into eight groups, whereby every group collected a specific category of waste.
After three hours of collecting rubbish, all the waste was measured by size and material. The most
collected waste was plastic, with 135,5 kilograms.
Our first mangrove cleanup is the start
of a long-term project, so many cleanup
days will follow in different areas
around Mahebourg and Pointe d’Esny.
We are trying to include the RAMSAR
site as well. We hope to continue the
success of our first cleanup on in our
following events. We will keep you
informed along this project via
Facebook.
October: Activity Overview
2nd of October: Participated and gave a presentation at the
conference on the preservation of the coral reefs sponsored by
EVOA, in LUX Grand Gaube
14th of October: Attended a Community Policing Forum in
Mahebourg. This Forum was organised by the National Coast Guard
17th of October: First lecture ‘Mauritius Marine Guide’
24th of October: Second lecture ‘Mauritius Marine Guide’
27th of October: Mangrove Cleanup Event
28th of October: Met the Mahebourg National Coast Guard to
discuss co-operating to help reduce illegal fishing activities in the
area
30th of October: Met the Blue Bay Ministry of Fisheries