April 2014: A fundraising success

23.04.2014

We were thrilled to learn that we will be receiving CHF 50,000 in grant funding from the government of the city of Basel in Switzerland for our aquaculture projects (e.g., sponge and coral farming development) through the end of 2015.

This grant along with our membership dues helps fund most of our planned activities. However, we are always looking for project-specific and general funding and are currently awaiting feedback from Lighthouse Foundation.

Our coral reef relief project “Moorings & Buoys” has been a great success. The buoys we put in place to prevent anchor damage at coral reef sites have found wide acceptance and are now used every day. Local boatmen are proud to be contributing to the conservation of the coral reefs and are actively communicating the purpose of the buoys to those boat owners who have a habit of anchoring their boats. In light of this success, our Dutch partner coralreefcare.com has pledged ~ $30,000 to allow us to install additional buoys on the coast of Zanzibar.

At the moment, we are taking inventory of all dive sits in Zanzibar, Pemba, and Mafia as well as mainland Tanzania to determine where we can use our funds for moorings most effectively. It is clear, however, that the marine protected area around Mnemba Island must be fitted out with mooring buoys as soon as possible. This popular dive and snorkeling area sees daily boat traffic of up to 30 boats, and the corals are damaged accordingly. Moreover, the boat owners don’t (as of yet) instruct snorkelers not to step on corals. Much work is left to do!

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