PROJECT VIDEOS
Seacology: Conserving Island Environments & Cultures
The above video is an introduction to Seacology, highlighting the origins of the organization, the work we do now to conserve island environments, as well as our exciting travel program.
Seacology's Indonesia EcoReef project
Manado Tua Island is a towering extinct volcano fringed with picturesque reef drop-offs and capped with a rainforest at its summit. The island's 3,200 inhabitants form a very tightly-knit community of farmers and fishermen who cling tenaciously to their Sangir cultural traditions. Large sections of Manado Tua's coral reef have been reduced to rubble fields due to blast fishing activities that took place over a decade ago. With Seacology's assistance, Manado Tua villagers have installed EcoReef modules, snowflake-shaped ceramic modules that are designed to mimic branching corals, providing shelter to fish and a surface for larval corals to build a new reef. In return, villagers have expanded their current "no-take" reef zones to include five acres of reef containing the EcoReef modules. USAID's Natural Resources Management Project and dive operators from the North Sulawesi Watersports Association did all the coordination and installation of EcoReefs for this project.
Full Project Description and Updates
Seacology's Sarinbuana, Bali project
Sarinbuana is a small farming village positioned 2,200 feet above sea level on the slopes of Mount Batukaru. Traditionally, the people of Sarinbuana have been the de facto custodians of a 1,975-acre section of intact rainforest above their village. The people of Sarinbuana are willing to formally endorse their role as guardians of the forest and protect it from all extractive activities. In exchange, Seacology will provide funds to construct a library/music/dance building and provide computers and musical instruments for the Sarinbuana primary school. Seacology will also provide funds for signage and a natural stepping stone pathway to an important Balinese temple located within the forest.
Full Project Description and Updates
Seacology's Madagascar flying fox project
Because of hunting for bushmeat, uncontrolled fires and logging, many roosts of the Madagascar Flying Fox, which are important pollinators, have disappeared. In Madagascar's Mangoro Region, a close network of 12 small forest fragments holds up to 4,000 of these bats. Seven nearby communities are working with local organizations Arongam-panihy - Culture, Communication and Environment (ACCE), and Lamin'asa Fiarovana Ramanavy sy Fanigy to implement a dina, or social contract, to protect the roosts. In exchange for this agreement, Seacology will provide funding for badly-needed repairs to each of the seven community municipal offices and 20 primary schools near the roosts.
Full Project Description and Updates
Seacology's southern Madagascar project
The Manafiafy Forest in Southeast Madagascar's Sainte Luce area is one of the last remaining stands of littoral forest in the country and is home to critically endangered palms, birds and the rare brown collared lemur. Azafady, an organization based in the U.K., has been asked by villagers in the Sainte Luce area to facilitate the transfer of control over the 1,730-acre forest, in which the community wishes to ban all commercial exploitation. Members of the community who patrol the area and act as guides are forced to spend up to six hours per day getting to and from the forest, and do not have a base from which to coordinate their activities. Seacology is working with Azafady to construct four forest stations within the protected area.
Full Project Description and Updates
Seacology's Mt. Angavokely, Madagascar project
Mt. Angavokely is situated 22 kilometers east of the capital city of Antananarivo. It is one of the last remaining relicts of high-altitude rainforest in all of Madagascar, and is home to over 120 species of rare and endangered orchids. The forest is an important watershed for three local communities totaling over 20,000 inhabitants. In 1999 Seacology began working with the Malagasy environmental organization ARCVERT, faculty from the University of Antananarivo and Uppsala University, and the Service des Stations Forestières to establish a 695 hectare (1,717 acres) national park. The creation of this park will not only preserve one of the last remaining tracts of high-altitude forest left in Madagascar and protect over 120 species of rare and endangered orchids, it will also provide recreational opportunities to Antananarivo residents.
