When a 12 ton animal is fighting to survive you understand how nature is strong and how man can be destructive. We were going out to dive when some fisherman came to ask the Zavora Lab team and Mozdivers for help to release a whale from their nets. We got there as quick as we could, even before the motors stopped I was ready to jump in the water with my tank. I was thinking each second is precious as the whale must breathe! I was broken hearted and expecting to find a dead humpback whale calf.
The huge animal was probably caught in the net early morning and was trying to realize itself since then. At 8 meters deep and with all the movement, the visibility was terrible and everyone was scared to get close. It was just when I was about 30cm from that huge body that I saw it, the "whale" was in fact a whale shark, and still alive!
His mouth could not open, his tiny eyes were covered in nets and the massive body strangled. I got a knife from the fisherman and started to cut the nets from his face so he could breathe properly. About 10 minutes latter his face and pectoral fins was free and the massive animal started to roll about crazily, the only thing I could see was 12tons of shark coming in my direction, somehow he managed to not smash me and all the nets ended up going to his tail. There were lots of nets, massive piece of reef and ropes all tangled in his tail. I swam in the direction of his tail to start cutting the nets away. He of course was afraid and fighting to survive, he was shaking his tail from one side to another like a huge snake. I knew the danger of getting tangled, but there was not a choice. I grabbed the nets and started to cut, it was too much net and rope and with such violent movements I wasn´t sure if I would be able to do something but I needed to try. The first time I got tangled, I thought for a second that I and he would stay there forever. At that moment I thought to myself "keep calm, keep calm" and started breathe slowly and managed to release myself. My fins and hoses were all tangled, but thankfully I have hands and a knife! The whale shark wasn´t so lucky...
Then Zinho, a dive master from Mozdivers and Sergio, a trainee, came in on SCUBA to help. Having someone to look after me if I got tangled was a great relief. Barbara, the zavoralab intern, also came and started to film. All of us were now working trying to cut the huge mess of rope and net, but it seemd impossible. I kept going up and down getting new knifes as they easily lost their sharpness. Someone suggested pulling the whale shark shallower and releasing it there, I knew if we did that, he would die and after that fight I would not accept it. Therefore, I, Zinho and Sergio continued working as hard as we could, eventually a fisherman also came to help. Finally after 50 minutes of despair and team work, we managed to free him, and he was gone as the spirit of the ocean - free. I wished he would go far, far from all the nets, far and free in a peaceful ocean. I would rather never see a whale shark again than see one suffering as he did. Unfortunately I know that in calling for help to realize him, the fishermen were only concerned with saving the nets. However at least, for me, Zinho, Sergio, Barbara, and the two divers, it was about saving his life. A fabulous animal that might live for more 80 years! I wish one day everyone would get together for the respect and love of life. It might be utopian but I do believe that we will only protect what we love, and we will only love what we know. I might be a dreamer but for me, knowledge, care and love can change the world. You might feel like swimming against the current all the time, but at least you are not tangled in the net, the society net. Love and be free!

The time is passing and we are slowly but always moving forward with the building of our new research and environmental education center! On the side is the picture of our boy shower and the floor about to come on the top of hundreds of broken glass. All glass bottles and cans were found on the rubbish or on the beach and dunes! Proving that we can do much more with the material that we call waste! :) 
Each shower division used about 1500bottles that were carefully cut, washed and taped together to give this beautiful light effect.

Steven – The Shark that Left a Lesson

After 3 hours surveying humpback whales I was ready for a break for my next shift in 3 hours. It was time to go home but soon I went down the stairs from our humpback whale observation site I saw two kids coming and going to the sea with a bucket full of water. These 10-12 years old children were with all their heart to save a small nurse shark still alive but dying under the sun on the sand. I looked around and asked who had fished that shark. No one answered. I asked if the owner of the net was there and nobody seems to care. I asked if I could put the shark back to the other. And one fisherman told me that it was ok ‘we don’t care’. I ended up going with dress to the water with the two kids. For more than half water we tried to recover the poor little shark. The kids named the shark Steven and tried everything they could do to bring Steven back, but it was too late, Steven died leaving the three of us with water in our eyes.

Two days later I was walking on the beach and I saw the same nurse shark on the sand. This time it was a pregnant female and was not being there for too long. The owner of the net that caught the shark was just nearby. I asked him if he would to eat it. He laughs and said ‘NO’. ‘So what are you going to do with this shark’. He said ‘kill’. And I asked for what as with a surprise he answered just to kill because we caught also yesterday. ‘Please, please let me put her back’. He said ‘If you wish, I don’t care’. I swan with the shark for about 500 meters, eventually the shark started slowly recover and when I left her she has managed to find her way to the bottom swimming graciously if she will survive, I am not sure, but I hope so. I hope she survives and move far away from us to not die in fishing net.

Such events were heartbroken but at least gave me the hope that the next generation might still able to change what our and the past generations have destroyed.

A manta, nicknamed Squidy, estimated to have lived off the shores of Mozambique for at least 10 years, with 4 recorded sightings, was killed at Zavora Beach by local fisherman earlier this week. This manta was originally spotted in 2003 by Megafauna Association in Tofo, and seen alive for the last time in 2007 in Tofo. Its sighting in Zavora was the last one and unfortunately while she was brutally cut when she was still alive.

The manta appears to have been caught in a fishing net; it is unknown whether or not this was intentional. It was then pulled up onto the beach, where it was set upon by 15-20 fishermen armed with machetes. The manta was violently slaughtered and then distributed to the locals bartering for its meat in the stirring red waters.

As part of a group of marine researchers interested in conservation, it is difficult to watch the effects of humanity on one of the very creatures that we strive to study and save. Mantas have a very slow reproductive rate, having only one offspring every two to three years. This slow rate of repopulation makes the spread of knowledge about them vital. With more education, it might be possible to protect them and see that they are released from fishermen's nets in the future.