Yudmila Chunguane, Marine Biologist at Love The Oceans

Love The Oceans

Love The Oceans (LTO) is a grassroots marine conservation charity based in Jangamo, Inhambane, Mozambique. Our mission is to protect marine biodiversity while empowering the local community through a holistic, bottom-up approach. Our goal is to establish a Conservation area across Jangamo through developing a holistic conservation strategy that can be replicated along the coastline of East Africa and beyond.

However, a protected area is only as good as it’s management and our model is a locally-led one. This means you need a community with the skill sets to successfully manage a marine protected area. To achieve this, our work is divided equally between groundbreaking research and valuable community outreach. Our research is to inform marine protection policies and legislation, while community outreach ensures that local people have the knowledge and skills to act as stewards of their own marine ecosystem. Conservation cannot happen in isolation, so every piece of our work connects like a puzzle, and each piece is essential and has the same importance as the others, to complete the bigger picture.

Our research covers multiple areas, including coral reefs, fisheries, megafauna, ocean trash, turtles, and apex predator research. Our fisheries data enables us monitor fish species, size, fishing methods, and effort allowing us to draw conclusions on the least and most sustainable fishing methods. With over 2000 hours of fisheries research per year, we’re building a strong dataset to assess artisanal fishing sustainability.

Our coral reef surveys have covered over 9 km of reef, mapping corals and associated fish species. Our data shows a concerning decline in herbivorous fish populations, critical for keeping algae in check. Without intervention, unchecked algae growth could out compete the coral, leading to ecosystem collapse – we've already seen algae cover more than double between 2018 and 2024. If this happens, this will have a disastrous effect on food security for our community. That’s why we work closely with local fishers and Community Fishing Councils (CCPs) to implement our Sustainable Fishing Project, encouraging a shift toward practices that preserve marine life like herbivores to secure a healthy ecosystem for future generations.

Education is a crucial part of our mission. In our area, approximately 50% of the population is illiterate, and with most people relying on the ocean for their livelihoods, ocean literacy is essential. Our swimming program is a key part of this effort. Even though many children grow up near the sea, they fear it due to high drowning rates (7% in our region). To change this, we run a free swimming initiative where we’ve taught 3,000+ children so far. As part of our commitment to education, we’ve also fundraised and built 14 classrooms across 2 schools, ensuring access to education up to age 18. When people stay in education for longer, it increases employability and income, alleviating poverty and giving people the head space to think about conservation.

Another vital initiative is our Sea Her Project, designed to bridge the gender gap in marine conservation. Women make up 51% of our community, yet they are often excluded from ocean-related discussions as there are no women present in ocean spaces. To change this, we launched our Sea Her Project, delivering swimming lessons, diving qualifications, and economic empowerment through mussel farming to women. We’re proud to have trained the district’s first-ever two female PADI scuba divers and four women as swim teachers. Representation matters and this is just the beginning. Our work was recognized globally when we received the 2024 Gender for a Common Future Award at COP29, a milestone that reinforces the power of inclusivity in conservation.

2025 has been a challenging year, with FDCO restricting travel to Mozambique for international visitors, storm surges wrecking our base, and the environmental grant landscape becoming ever more competitive. However, we have high hopes for 2025, pushing more projects forward as we fundraise to cover costs with our small but mighty team.

At Love The Oceans, we believe that true conservation success comes from integrating science with community-driven solutions. Every piece of our conservation puzzle, from research and education to community empowerment, contributes to building a future where both people and marine life can thrive.