Pre-Departure Overview

Well, I am still in Charlotte, packed to within an inch of my life, and about to head to the airport where they will probably tell me I have to get rid of half of my stuff, in which case I will be totally screwed. I tried to pack light for Madagascar, and I still think I did, but I guess 4 ginormous suitcases say otherwise. Dive gear is large and heavy, and coupled with all the manuals and study guides I have I really don't think the amount of luggage I have is a testament to my dependence on 'stuff.'

Anyway, my trip to Madagascar is a volunteer trip through the British organization ReefDoctor which I found on the internet when I realized I needed at least a year to breathe before law school. I have always been really passionate about climate change and the human rights issues that go along with it. I also love children and want to see how I do at teaching because I am considering teaching abroad for 6 months when I get back. So when I found the ReefDoctor program it seemed tailor-made to me.

I am going to be doing 1-2 ecological dive surveys a day about 5-6 days a week in order to log data about the marine life and thus be able to monitor the conditions of the coral reefs. The reef system in Madagascar is the third most important in the world, i.e. its health is a huge factor in the balance of the oceans which in turn is necessary to successfully feed all of the millions of people that live directly and indirectly off of this reef. Because of increased water tempatures in the past 10 years due to climate change, the reef system in Madagascar has undergone a series of reef bleachings, meaning large amounts of the reef have died. Due to the death of much of the reef, fish populations have relocated to the parts of the reef that are still alive, putting too many in one place, resulting in overfishing, and consequently major issues with the village fisherman as far as their livelihoods and even feeding their own families.

Besides just monitoring the reefs, ReefDoctor aims to help teach sustainable fishing practices to village fisherman and conservation to the lcoal school children. That is basically as much as I know about what I'm going to be doing right now. I'm sure it will be a lot different once I arrive, so I guess I'll have to find out when I get there and keep this blog posted.

My internet service isn't going to be the best, so I'm not sure how much I'll be in contact with people or able to update this blog; again, I will have to wait until I get there to find out. Phone contact is going to be painfully limited. I can receive texts for free, and send a few. But if you text me, I'll probably just email you back. The best email to reach me at is alexjcotter@gmail.com. Hope to hear from anyone anytime!


Alex