Mangroves! At first I came here because of, you can imagine, the sharks.
I read many things about the mangroves on the
projects-abroad webpage, but I didn't realize that they are so important for
the sharks and especially for our environment!
But then I saw so many mangroves when I rode the
bus from Nadi to Pacific Harbour and the huge mangrove nursery next to our
apartments and thought: "Okay... this must be a big thing in this
project..."
And so it is.
Every (mangrove)-Monday a few volunteers go out
and carry out some form of mangrove activity. Whether it’s building a nursery,
collecting mangroves from the forest, planting mangroves in the wild or
planting mangroves in the nursery.
Our red mangroves love the environment on the beach
of a river near to the sea.
Red Mangroves? I will explain this to you.
There are three different types of mangroves.
Red, black and white mangroves. And all are different and tolerate different
levels of salt in the water.
The white mangroves tolerate the least amount
salt of these three types. Mostly you can see it on beaches (land) next to the
ocean.
A little bit further in the water, you can find
the black mangroves. They like the salt and the fresh water.
And then there are our favourites: The red mangroves!
We plant them on the tidal flats of beaches as they have the highest tolerance
level to salt water.
Now you may ask why they are so important for the
sharks. Well, that's easy.
The
pregnant sharks (sicklefin lemons, scalloped hammerhead, bulls...) are giving
birth in the rivers and the juveniles are growing between the roots and get
safety from them. This the reason we try to catch and tag some of sharks next
to the mangroves in the river, because it's like a "shark-nursery"
between the roots! After a few months the little sharks head off to the ocean
and start the life out in the blue.
Summarized you can say, mangroves are the home
and the kindergarten for the baby sharks.
I learned so much about mangroves on this
project, especially in the workshops. You will love the work with mangroves even
if it's the dirtiest and most exhausting day in the week but it's worth it.
After you've planted nearly 200 mangroves in the
mud and can't see your feet anymore, you’ll feel amazing knowing you just built
a home for the sharks and did something very important for the environment. Come
back after 5 to 10 years and you can see a little mangrove forest and can tell yourself:
"Yep!! That was me! Good job!" ;)
Great feeling! Great plants!
