Andavadoaka is a small

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

located on the southwest coast of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. It is located in the

Morombe (district) Morombe is a district of Atsimo-Andrefana in Madagascar. It can be reached by the National road 55 or pirogue from Morondava. It is situated at 283 km from Tulear. The district has an area of , and the estimated population in 2020 was 231,431 ...

, 45 km south of the town of

Morombe Morombe is an urban municipality (commune urbaine) on the south-west coast in Atsimo-Andrefana, Madagascar. It can be reached by the National road 55 or pirogue from Morondava. It is situated at 283 km from Tulear. An airport serves the town. ...

in the region of

Atsimo-Andrefana Atsimo-Andrefana (South West) is a region of Madagascar. It borders Menabe in north, Amoron'i Mania and Haute Matsiatra in northeast, Ihorombe and Anosy in east and Androy in southeast. The capital is Toliara and the population was 1,799,088 i ...

. It belongs to the rural municipality of Befandefa. The

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

lies on the edge of a shallow

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

protected from the open

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

by a series of fringing and submerged barrier

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition of sand or wave eros ...

that support substantial

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

growth, providing a vital resource base for a local

artisanal An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

. Owing to the remoteness and isolation, these

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. ...

are thought to possess a significantly higher abundance and diversity of

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

than other

in southwest

. Andavadoaka is one of the founding villages of a locally managed marine area. The

won the

Equator Prize The Equator Prize, organized by the Equator Initiative within the United Nations Development Programme,

, awarded by the

United Nations Development Program The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries Poverty reduction, eliminate poverty and achieve Sustainable development, sustainable economic growth and Human development (economics), hu ...

(UNDP), in 2007. Near Andavodoaka,

Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

studies have identified many hundreds of marine species in the waters in the area. The

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s around Andavadoaka represent some of the most well-developed

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

systems in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

Population and Ethnicity

* Demographics: According to the 2005 census, Andavadoaka had 1,200 inhabitants across 174 households, with 52% of the population being women. * Ethnicity: Andavadoaka is inhabited by the

Vezo The Vezo is a Sakalava Malagasy term for ''Bajo'', the semi-nomadic maritime or sea people from Central–Eastern Indonesia (esp. Flores Sea) who settled in southern Madagascar. They speak a variety of Malagasy language, Malagasy dialect continuum, ...

fishing people. The population mainly consists of Vezo people, semi-nomadic marine fishers who have inhabited the southwest coast of Madagascar for generations. The Vezo depend heavily on the sea for food and transport.

Electricity

Andavadoaka is one of the few small villages in the South-West of Madagascar with general access to electricity. It is fed by about 65 kWp of solar panels and backed by a battery bank. An

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

serves the village.

References

Populated places in Atsimo-Andrefana {{AtsimoAndrefana-geo-stub