- ReefDoctor
Volunteer Research Assistant Programme
ReefDoctor was founded in 2000 and began working in Ifaty, South-west Madagascar in 2002. Unlike many ecotourism ventures, ReefDoctor is fully integrated into local community life and we pride ourselves on undertaking scientific research, marine management, education and community development work that makes a real difference
In January 2005 we created the ReefDoctor Volunteer Research Assistant Programme and began inviting small groups of volunteer research assistants into our core team made up of International and Malagasy staff to help expand data collection and facilitate further development of our core programs.
Volunteer Research Assistant placements range from 4 weeks to 12 weeks (90 days the maximum time we can have volunteers stay with us due to visa restrictions), with the program enabling you to participate at all levels of ReefDoctor’s core program activities:
Marine Research
Marine Management
Community Development
Marine Research;
- Monitor the coral reefs health and biodiversity of the Bay of Ranobe
- Monitoring of the first community lead protected area the ‘Rose Garden’ (Marine Park for tourists) in the Bay
- Monitoring sedimentation and nutrient levels coming into the bay via deforestation in land and from loss of the mangroves
- Coral reproduction output studies alongside coral growth studies using photographic data collect
- Reef Restoration – artificial reef and coral gardening experiments to restore damaged reef areas
- Herbevioury and predetation studies on certain species e.g. sea urchins
- Monitor new reef sites in the far northern section of the Bay of Ranobe
- Monitoring of the 3 new Marine reserves recently created as of December 1st 2008 in the Bay of Ranobe under the collaborative project with WWF Madagascar and WWF Sweden and our Fishermen’s Association FIMIHARA
- Monitoring of the Bays seagrasses under the direction and collaboration of Seagrassnet the world wide monitoring body for seagrasses (we’re their 1st ever monitoring site in Madagascar).
- Monitoring of the turtle fishery of 3 villages in the Bay
Marine Management;
- Monitoring the daily catch of fishermen to understand resource utilisation of local fishermen to help set up a sustainable resource management plan for endangered species and reef sites.
- Monitoring the fish catch of the beach seine fishermen, given alternative fishing gear and technique training.
- Monitoring the 6 new no-take-zone for an octopus fishery first pioneered further north by Blue Ventures (land based assessments via surveying fishermen’s catch when landed) lead specifically by our Malagasy scientists and community officers
- Implementing alternatives to direct fishing activities e.g. aquaculture initiatives
- Help create educational material for the communities with the fishermen’s association FIMIHARA on the purpose and benefits of marine protected areas, no take zones, banning destructive fishing techniques and gears etc..
- Help with mangrove re-plantation program with our partners HONCO in the north of the Bay and with the villages in the south under a new project by our fishermen’s association FIMIHARA
Community Development;
- English classes for local adults (teachers, fishermen, general villagers) (or French classes if you speak French)
- Help our team and local kids with the creation of educational materials on their marine and terrestrial environments for our museum and resource centre which is open to all local children, adults from the villagers and visiting tourists
- Help our education team with marine education programs (bi-weekly community meetings, primary schools education, awareness on general marine issues and the ReefDoc kids club)
- Create tourists awareness on general marine issues, how to act on the reef, what they can do to help, via poster/leaflet creation and direct presentations to tourists in their hotels
- Helping to set up alternative business with our women’s association FO MIRAY such as embroidery, local handcrafts and snacks made in solar ovens to sell to tourists etc
- Help create educational material and its dissemination for the community on health and hygiene practices
- Help us with our HIV and STD awareness program with FO MIRAY and the local Ifaty medical clinic
- Help us with FO MIRAY and our family planning initiative (set up by BlueVentures) with the local medical clinics and other NGO’s with creating educational material and guides
- Help in Ifaty’s U18 sports association with 180 boys and girls involved in rugby, football and volleyball. The girls and boys team both won the national rugby tournament of Madagascar!
Becoming a Volunteer ReefDoctor is not calculated on volunteers qualifications or work experiences, so do not worry if you have never done this type of work before, though we do very much encourage experienced divers/biologists etc. and students studying our fields of research, to join us, we just mainly want out going enthusiastic people from all back grounds who are willing to learn and get involved in hands on conservation in simple conditions in one of the world’s only 4 Mega Biodiversity hotspots.
Ultimately our goal is to involve volunteers in as much of our work as possible (you become part of our team) and with a staff to volunteer ratio of 1:1 we are sure you will gain an incredible experience with the people and environment of such an amazing country.
