São Tomé Marine Conservation

We wish to raise some funds to buy and ship freediving kits (mask, snorkel, fins) to our freediving students in São Tomé: Fernando, Edson, Jerónimo, Wadmilton, Jackson, João, Aladim, Hugulay, Adair

Earlier this year, the Scientific Freediving crew (Dr. Claire Paris and Ricardo) was part of the Little Fish Project of São Tomé & Principe, a Portuguese-speaking African island nation near the equator. We were fortunate to work with the local community to better understand and help protect their marine resources.

As part of the project, we held a scientific freediving course to train local professors, fishermen, and scientists.

The goal of our Scientific Freediving course is to provide a safe and standardized approach to the use of freediving for scientific research. The course provides students with the general skills required to plan and conduct underwater research and field work safely.

Some of the students in São Tomé had no gear and borrowed everything to participate in the course.

We are purchasing nine SEAC freediving kits with masks, snorkels and fins to send to our freediving students: Fernando, Edson, Jerónimo, Wadmilton, Jackson, João, Aladim, Hugulay, Adair. With their new gear they will be able to continue to freedive as part of their effort to protect the local marine life.

The LittleFishSTP project is funded by the University of Algarve, Portugal.

We are coordinating the shipment and gear distribution with Professor Maria Alexandra Teodósio and Vânia Baptista of the Universidade do Algarve and

Sara Vieria of a local turtle protection project(Associação Programa Tato).

Many of the students are with the Universidade de São Tomé e Príncipe.

Thank you for supporting our friends at @littlefishstp! We will update their progress on @scientificfreediving.