Mangrove Madness

And here we have Abigail, one of our bright, cute little 7th graders who went with us on the Island excursion to teach us all how to plant a mangrove forrest.

1. Get some mangrove seeds.
2. Stick the pointy ends down into the mud in the intertidal zone.
3. Leave them alone.

4. Watch them grow.

I was suprised at how easy it is to plant mangroves. Of course, some plantings don't take very well for a number of different reasons, but many of the mangrove re-planting areas have been a success. Many areas that were covered in mangrove are more and more exposed in recent years because of natural causes (harsh storms) and human causes (mangroves are perpetually chopped down for firewood) Why plant mangroves? Mangrove forrests create a natural perforated barrier between shorelines and the harsh waves of the open ocean. This natural barrier prevents errosion, a problem that is an especially hot issue since the cyclone went through a couple years ago. This also creates an environment suitable for baby shrimp to grow up in, swim back out to the open ocean, reproduce, and send the youngins back in again so that Angoche has more tasty shrimp to eat. Not to mention the mangrove is just an interesting ecosystem full of interesting critters.