Ocean Revolution Moçambique and Bitonga Divers recently opened a new office at Tofo Scuba. Come and visit us there. You can reach Kudzi Guicome on +258 846977102 for more information
THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF A BLUE REVOLUTION
Ocean Revolution
Ocean Revolution was formed ten years ago to apply diversity and open networking to ocean conservation practice: to become an efficient resource and catalyst in a movement for change.
Our initiatives are a potent and efficient delivery system for integrated actions by communities impacted by economic, environmental and cultural threats. These obstacles to balanced prosperity can often be overcome with a fusion of modern and traditional knowledge, institutions, management approaches and governance systems.
Successful actions in these communities save critical hi-biodiversity hotspots, cultures with irreplaceable resilience knowledge and are pilots for new global public/private/community partnerships
We have five focus countries this year: Australia, Mexico, Mozambique, Panama and the United States. All of the local and Indigenous communities we work with live in areas of high bicultural diversity. They have shown, long before they reached out to Ocean Revolution, the passion and perseverance to mobilize and demand change.
Bitonga Divers
Mozambique’s PADI Dive Instructors: Unique on the East and Southern Africa Coast
Our Professional Divers Program:
-
Mozambique’s first female diving instructor certified.
- Mozambique’s first swim instructor certified
- First two Mozambican commercial divers certified.
- Two instructors accepted to Smithsonian Underwater Archaeological program
- Applications received from 5 resorts outside our target area for Bitonga Divers training
- Three Mozambicans completed Padi Instructor Development Course and Instructor Exams
- Improved benefit package for new Bitonga Divers Instructors
- Personal health and liability insurance
- Passports
- Professional dive equipment upgrade package
- Personal computers for Bitonga Divers Senior Members
- Established job placement and mediation committee and placed ads in national markets promoting Bitonga Divers
Education for Civil Society, the Market and the State
Carlos Macuacua leading a “Village Talk”
•Weekly “Real Mozambicans” talks to tourist audiences in two resort communities about the work of Bitonga Divers and Ocean Revolution
•Attended MICOA (Mozambican Environmental Agency) workshop on Marine Protected Areas with members of fishing co-ops from three communities
•Conducted pilot advisory program with local fishing co-opt self-declare a protected area
• Conservation presentation at Portuguese Embassy in Maputo
• Weekly community radio show “Maguite (high tide)” in local language on fisheries and conservation
• Bi-monthly Village talks in remote fishing communities building conservation knowledge and capacity for participation in responsible environmental and cultural tourism
OCEAN REVOLUTION MOÇAMBIQUE Ocean Revolution Moçambique became a Mozambican national NGO in 2012, expanding our permitted activities
Science and Policy Networking Nationally, Regionally and Internationally
·Awarded scholarships and Post graduate thesis study grants including:
• First study on the importance of sea grass areas as nursery zones in Mozambique
• evaluating the importance of sharks in reef ecosystems through study of diet utilizing stable isotopes analysis
· Successful submission and defense of Master’s thesis by two O*R scholarship recipients
· Secured positions for Master’s students in academic and private environmental sectors
·Facilitated attendance of students at Western Indian Ocean Marine Scientists Symposium
·Facilitated participation of students in research projects conducted by US Forestry Service, WWF, and University of Kenya
· Engineered collaborations between UEM students Bitonga Divers, fishing co-ops and regulatory agencies for new research projects
Participated in drafting successful World Heritage Nomination for Mozambique Channel
•Joined WIO-C.“The Consortium for the Conservation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO-C, “the Consortium”) was officially launched at the Fifth Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi Convention held in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2007, with the main purpose of advancing efforts to protect, conserve, and manage the coastal and marine environment of the Western Indian Ocean region while working to alleviate poverty and attain sustainable livelihoods for the most vulnerable segments of its population.”
•Participated on Science and Experts Panel of the 8th Annual COP of the Nairobi Convention.
"The Nairobi Convention provides a mechanism for regional cooperation, coordination and collaborative actions in the Eastern and Southern African region that enables the Contracting Parties to harness resources and expertise from a wide range of stakeholders and interest groups towards solving interlinked problems of the coastal and marine environment including critical national and trans boundary issues.”
• Collaborated with on US Forestry Service on Mangrove Studies
• Collaborated with Conservation International on World Ocean Health Index
Post-Graduate Scholarships and Thesis Support at the National University Graduate Department of Marine Biology and Coastal Management
• Awarded scholarships and Post graduate thesis study grants including:
• First study on the importance of sea grass areas as nursery zones in Mozambique
• evaluating the importance of sharks in reef ecosystems through study of diet utilizing stable isotopes analysis
• Successful submission and defense of Master’s thesis by two O*R scholarship recipients
• Secured positions for Master’s students in academic and private environmental sectors
• Facilitated attendance of students at Western Indian Ocean Marine Scientists Symposium
• Facilitated participation of students in research projects conducted by US Forestry Service, WWF, and University of Kenya
• Engineered collaborations between UEM students Bitonga Divers, fishing co-ops and regulatory agencies for new research projects
Building movements through media
•Broadcast “Magulute” (high tide) a 3x per week community radio show on conservation and fisheries issues presented by Bitonga Divers
•OR*M became marine environment correspondents for national newspaper “Noticias” and English languagemedia portal “Club of Mozambique”
•Carlos Macuacua co-presented BBC2 documentary “Indian Ocean by Simon Reeves.” Broadcast on BBC World and incoming carriers to South African SAA, LAM, and Iberia
• Carlos Macuacua co-presented US Travel Channel’s “No Reservations” by Anthony Bourdain
• Translated “Shiver,” a documentary on shark fining, into Chinese and distributed in Beijing and Hong Kong
• Carlos Macuacua presented for the Hong Kong production “Unnamed Shark fining movie.”
• Ocean Guardian, by Chris Scarffe featuring Carlos Macuacua is a documentary on Whale Sharks and Mantas for National Television and use in classrooms. The film will highlight the importance of these species to tourism, of tourism to local employment, of diminishing marine resources, of marine resources as a keystone of national heritage and look to build a new generation of resource stewards. It will seek to provide realistic portraits of fishermen, regulators, scientists and Mozambican conservationists in their own voices
The Dive Princess Project DPP seeks to increase the contributions women scientists make to ocean research and conservation providing tools to rising female stars in all activities related to marine biology and coastal management
•All UEM students being provided scholarships are women
•Bitonga Divers has the only three African women dive professionals on its membership roles
•O*RM links women academics, dive professionals and activists in research and conservation projects both regionally and globally
•“Mulheres Açåo Led by Kudzi Guicome and Sonia Induna was formed as an activist group for women from Tofo, Chemene, Conguiana and other neighboring communities
