Love The Oceans
Humans are usually the cause of environmental issues and therefore must be involved in the solutions. That is why Love the Oceans’ outreach work involves identifying environmental problems and tracing back to find what social issues are driving them. They host an extensive range of capacity building and outreach projects including basic marine resource management for 10-13yr olds, free swimming lessons, sustainable fishing projects, women’s health projects and alternative livelihoods projects.
They believe in a holistic, community-led approach to conservation, meaning most of their projects are locally led. Their strategy includes a vision of complete self-sustainability for the community through locally managed marine areas (LMMAs), making a successful conservation outcome ultimately independent of Love The Oceans presence in the area.
Love the Oceans is a non-profit marine conservation organisation supporting work in Jangamo Bay, Mozambique. Jangamo, whilst home to a huge host of marine life, has never been studied in depth for any prolonged amount of time. Love The Oceans conducts the only marine research in the district, collecting baseline information to inform conservation action, legislation change and implement evidence-based conservation solutions. Researching fisheries, coral reef, ocean trash, marine megafauna, turtle and remote reef monitoring, gathering crucial data that helps create efficient, realistic and practical guidelines for the community-led protected area they’re establishing.
We have developed cutting edge, ethical marine conservation expeditions that give individuals the chance to get hands on conservation experience, working alongside our marine biologists doing research, community work and diving in Mozambique.
THE RESEARCH
THE FISHERIES
Our field assistants aid data collection for the artisanal fisheries in Jangamo Bay. The field assistants engage directly with local fishermen helping collect data on teleost, elasmobranch, crustacean and cephalopod fisheries. For each catch, the size, species, catch size and fishing methods are recorded and photographically documented.
The aim of supporting the community in this fisheries research is to:
Help the community assess the sustainability of current fishing practices, including the sustainability of different methods to determine which methods are the most sustainable
Set biodiversity targets and develop management measures for the envisaged Marine Protected Area
Identify anthropogenic threats that need to be mitigated
Document the need for new fisheries legislation, implementing species-specific landing guidelines
Lobby for implementation and enforcement of CITES listings in Mozambique to ban shark fin export
THE REEFS
Based on its geographical location and the relatively limited anthropogenic impact, Jangamo is expected to host healthy coral reefs with a high biodiversity and biomass of reef associated species. Baseline data indicates that coral reef health and biodiversity is much lower than in comparable locations around the world. This indicates that the current fishing practices and other anthropogenic pressures are negatively impacting the reefs, which highlights the need for implementation of conservation and management measures.
The aim of supporting the community in this coral reef research is to:
Help assess the health of local coral reefs, including coral coverage and diversity
Help assess the health of reef associated species, including biodiversity, biomass and trophic levels
Help assess the impact of current fishing practices on coral reef health and biodiversity of reef associated species
Document the need for protection of local coral reefs
Set biodiversity targets and develop management measures for the envisaged Marine Protected Area
THE MEGAFAUNA
Love The Oceans’ field assistants help record humpback whale, shark, and manta ray sightings, behaviour, environmental conditions and vocalisations, collecting ID photos using photogrammetry to estimate population size, study habitat use and regional migrations. The sightings and ID photos are reported to citizen science databases ensuring international collaboration between research organisations in other megafauna hotspots around the world. The aim of this research is to:
Record frequency data, documenting the populations migrating through Jangamo during the annual migration
Record ID photos to identify individuals using a mark-recapture method, enabling us to estimate population size, study habitat use and better understand migration patterns
Record frequency data, to assess whether sightings are frequent enough to support sustainable ecotourism as an alternative livelihood for the local communities
Set biodiversity targets and develop management measures for the envisaged Marine Protected Area
THE TRASH
Love The Oceans collects marine debris through weekly beach cleans. The collected debris is logged by category and weight using internationally recognised methodology. Love The Oceans has removed over 400 kg of marine debris from a 15 km stretch of coastline. While some of this debris is local (especially flip-flops and cigarette butts), the vast majority is transported to the area via ocean currents, highlighting the need for international action against marine debris and plastic pollution.
The aim of this is to:
Remove debris from the marine environment to protect our ecosystems
Document the scale of the issue and develop management measures to reduce marine pollution
Raise awareness about marine debris and plastic pollution to inspire a change in attitude in the expat and local communities, and prompt action against marine pollution
THE TURTLES
Throughout nesting season the Turtle Patrol Team carry out nightly surveys to locate and protect turtle nests on our beaches, increasing the likelihood of eggs successfully hatching. To provide nesting turtles and hatchlings with the best possible conditions, Love The Oceans’ marine biologists deliver monthly stakeholder workshops on Code of Conduct, environmental awareness and proper procedures when a nest is located. Once a nest is located the Turtle Patrol Team then post 24hr guards to get as close to 100% hatchling survival rate as possible.
The aim of supporting the community in this turtle research is to:
Record turtle nesting activity & species in Jangamo Bay, including successful and abandoned nesting attempts
Record hatching activity and number of hatchlings
Record frequency of turtles sightings to estimate population size, study habitat use and better understand migration patterns
Increase likelihood of successful nesting and hatching activity by implementing management measures
Increase awareness in the indigenous community around turtles and why they need to be protected
Decrease poaching in the area
Our turtle program is also an essential part of employment in the area. The 2020-21 nesting season enabled us to provide employment for 18 people (seen in the picture opposite), who support 69 family members with their income. Most of our guards used to be fishermen so this initiative has been particularly successful in transitioning people away from unsustainable fishing into conservation employment.
Photographer: Stella Levantesi
Melta is our first female Ocean Conservation Champion (OCC). Our OCC program is an internship program for local children where we sponsor them the opportunity to do further qualifications like swimming, scuba, English etc. Melta started learning to swim at age 12 and is now training to do her swimming instructors and scuba diving qualifications. She's enrolled in our OCC Education Program so we'll be sponsoring her to finish high school in the next 2 years (rare for women in our area) and then will hopefully join our team full time.
Photographer: Jeff Hester
Shark fishing is one of the activities Love The Oceans is currently working with fishermen to eliminate. This small hammerhead shark was caught in local fishing nets, a method of fishing which our Sustainable Fishing Project is working to completely eradicate in our area in favour of kayak rod and line fishing - proven to be most sustainable locally through our ongoing fisheries research. The fins of sharks are often sold in our area for the international shark fin trade.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN A ‘LOVE THE OCEANS’ EXPEDITION?
5 Week Research Expedition
Length: 5-6 weeks
Price: £1995-£2995
When: May – October annually
Prerequisites: Studying a related subject at university level or equivalent, PADI Open Water, 18+ yrs old
Suitable for: Students, recent grads, post grads, thesis students
Mads Ocean's Megafauna In Mozambique
Length: 11 days
Price: £2300
When: August 13th – 30th 2022
Prerequisites: 18+ yrs old
Suitable for: Anyone with a passion for marine conservation
Photographers Without Borders Workshop
Length: 2 weeks
Price: TBC
When: July annually
Prerequisites: 18+ yrs old
Suitable for: Photographers, videographers, journalists, aspiring media makers, media professionals, storytellers
3 Week Conservation Adventure Program
Length: 3-4 weeks
Price: £2290-£3390
When: July – August annually
Prerequisites: 18+ yrs old
Suitable for: Career changers, sabbaticals, gap years, people not studying related subjects
2 Week Research Expedition
Length: 2-3 weeks
Price: £995-£1995
When: March – May annually
Prerequisites: Studying a related subject at university level or equivalent, PADI Open Water, 18+ yrs old
Suitable for: Students, recent grads, post grads, thesis students
Swimming Instructor Program
Length: 17 days
Price: TBC
When: August 5th – 22nd 2022
Prerequisites: 18+ yrs old
Suitable for: Swimming instructors looking to help out
WEBSITE: www.lovetheoceans.org
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/lovetheoceans/
LINKTREE: www.linktr.ee/lovetheoceans
