COPROT

FRANCESCA TROTMAN

Founder and Director

Research

Love The Oceans strongly believe that they are in a biodiversity hotspot, and just need the data to prove it to show the area is worth protecting. As such they have ongoing research projects of the fisheries, reefs, megafauna and ocean trash.The fisheries research helps them assess the sustainability of the local fisheries and with these assessments they can lobby for change on legislations for unsustainable fishing practices. Through their reef research they are logging data on the different coral and fish species, as well as assessing reef health. The megafauna research consists of photographic IDs of manta rays and wale sharks which allows them to study habitat use and population dynamics. And they are also conducting more in-depth research into the humpback whales in the area, looking at surface behaviour, population dynamics and vocalisations.

The data will be used to prove the viability of these species for as ecotourism assets and the huge potential for sustainable revenue generation from ecotourism in the area.

Trash removal

Since it's founding Love The Oceans has collected huge amounts of trash from the beaches and oceans in the region. They conduct beach cleans at least twice a week and record data on the types of trash that washes up. Love The Oceans promotes the use of eco-bricks in the local community and run workshops to show the advantages of reducing and reusing trash, especially plastics and the damage trash can do to the environment. Volunteers help to construct eco-bricks from the trash they collect from the beach and ocean.

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Education and community outreach

Love The Oceans works in two local schools, Guinjata School and Paindane School, teaching Marine Resource Management and Sea Safety. They are teaching the next generation of fishermen why sustainable marine resource management is important to ensure sustainable fish stocks for generations to come and how sustainability ultimately benefits them and their families.

As part of the educational outreach projects, Love The Oceans’ invest in improving existing education facilities and building new classrooms and are currently sponsoring free education for almost 1500 children.

They also run community workshops on sustainable fishing with active fishermen with the aim to help the local communities transition towards sustainable fishing, ending elasmobranch (e.g. sharks and rays) fishing.

Swimming lessons

As part of Love The Oceans’ commitment to the local community, they teach Sea Safety and deliver free swimming lessons to the school children on a weekly basis. Despite the fact that 33% of the population lives within in 25km of the coast, very few Mozambicans know how to swim. Love The Oceans aims to change this by giving free swimming lessons to the children from the local schools on Saturday afternoons. The lessons not only crucial to improve water safety, but also to encourage the children to get in the water and hopefully spark their passion for the Ocean. Adding swimming to their skillset also creates a new range of future job opportunities in ecotourism.