Andavadoaka is a small fishing village located on the southwest coast of Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. It is located in the Morombe

Morombe

Morombe is a coastal city in Atsimo-Andrefana Region, Madagascar. It is located at around and can be reached by pirogue from Morondava.- Literatur :...

 division of Toliara Province

Toliara Province

Toliara is a former province of Madagascar with an area of 161,405 km². It had a population of 2,229,550 . Its capital was Toliara...

, 45 km south of the town of Morombe http://www.blueventures.org/expeditions_andavadoaka.htm. The village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 lies on the edge of a shallow lagoon

Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

 protected from the open ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 by a series of fringing and submerged barrier reefs that support substantial coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

 growth, providing a vital resource base for local traditional and artisanal fisheries. Owing to the remoteness and isolation, these coral reefs are thought to possess a significantly different and higher abundance and diversity of species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 than other reefs in Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. Andavadoaka is also home to the Vezo

Vezo

The Vezo is the term the semi-nomadic coastal people of southern Madagascar use to refer to people that have become accustomed to live from sea fishing. The Vezo speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages,...

 fishing people, who are known for their dependence upon the ocean.

Andavadoaka is one of the founding villages of the Velondriake

Velondriake

Velondriake is a locally managed marine reserve in southwest Madagascar. Covering an area of 1,145 km², the reserve brings benefits to over 10,000 people in twenty-five villages, protecting coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, baobab forests and other threatened habitats.Villagers worked...

 locally-managed marine reserve, and won the Equator Prize, awarded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2007.

Blue Ventures, a UK-based non-government organisation, runs a research field site situated close to the village of Andavodoaka, aiming to improve the community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

. Biodiversity

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

 studies have found many hundreds of marine species

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 in the waters in the area. These unique areas represent some of the most well developed coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

 systems in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

.

Maps

Satellite image, zoomable to discern individual buildings.

Location of Blue Ventures in Andavadoaka.

External Links

• Blue Ventures - award winning not-for-profit organisation dedicated to facilitating projects and expeditions that enhance global marine conservation and research, based in Andavadoaka.
• Andavadoaka.org - conservation, ecology, education, ecotourism and dive information for Andavadoaka.