OceansWatch is excited to announce a new addition to our fleet!

We have been donated the use of Moksha - a beautiful 2 year old Hanse 54.

Moksha is a top quality cruising yacht and will allow us to expand our services in the South West Pacific. She has sufficient room to carry a larger team than Magic Roundabout, our other project lead yacht (who still needs a skipper - see below for more info!). This will allow us to invite representatives from Fisheries departments, Environment departments and Pacific Universities to join our projects in 2010 in Melanesia.

She is also a faster vessel allowing us more time spent with the communities and less time in transit.

This year OceansWatch is going to run two projects in the South Pacific. Magic Roundabout will be working in Vanuatu, whereas Moksha will be used for the projects in Vanuatu, Papa New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The crew of both ships will be working with local communities to protect their marine resources on which they are so reliant, as well as supporting primary education and helping to develop alternative sustainable livelihoods.

This year we have also been asked to visit the Tuo community in the Reef Islands of the Solomons who are one of several South-West Pacific islands suffering from the effects of climate change. We hope to asses what can be done to limit the disastrous affects already felt by their island by looking into climate change adaptation strategies.

SKIPPER NEEDED!

We are still looking for a skipper for Magic Roundabout for the second half of the project in Vanuatu and maybe the Solomon Islands, so if you fancy 3 months heading our project in the South Pacific with no expenses other than food, please get in touch with info@oceanswatch.org for more details.