Screened as part of TOAFF14

Until recently the people living on the southwest coast of Madagascar, known as the “Vezo”, were on the edge of losing their ability to survive and feed their families. Over fishing was destroying the octopus stocks which was their major cash income and fish numbers were in precipitous decline.

However, with the help of scientists the community chose to adopt a range of sustainable methods to turn things around – including rotating their fishing grounds, avoiding hunting octopus for a season and planting seaweed which could supplement their livelihood.

9 year old Narcia tells the story of their survival in the style of a fable using simple and poetic terms alongside sand animation to express the beauty of this underworld as well as the dangers of overfishing.

Narcia’s family and community have learned to survive. But poverty and hunger threatens approximately 500 million people worldwide whose survival depends on small-scale fisheries. By presenting Narcia’s story as a simple fable, the solution to the family’s survival becomes an archetypal lesson that can be applied to other situations of poverty and hunger on coastlines throughout the world.