2015 Blue Initiative Grantee Heads into Production
This past spring CMG awarded our 2015 Blue Initiative grant to the Mediterranean Conservation Society (AKD). AKD is based in Izmir, Turkey, where their MPA manager, Zafer Kizilkaya is building and overseeing Turkey's first community-managed Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Gokova Bay, just southeast of Bodrum. Zafer and AKD work with local fishermen and fisherwomen, to engage and educate the community on the importance of protecting their local marine habitat.
One of the issues facing Gokova Bay is the rise of invasive fish species. To help combat this problem, they have created a campaign to promote consumption of these species to the fishermen and women who catch them, as well as to fish markets, restaurants and consumers who buy & sell them. The benefits to consuming more invasive fish species are many: controlling the invasive fish population, creating income for local fishermen & fisherwomen, providing more affordable food sources for locals, and boosting the local economy.
Through our 2015 Blue Initiative Grant, CMG has provided funding for AKD to produce a series of short videos (each under 3 minutes) to help create action as part of their invasive fish campaign. The videos focus on the training and engagement of fisherwomen in Gokova Bay as well as marketing the attractiveness of incorporating invasive fish species into the local, daily diet.
According to Zafer, "the Blue Initiative Grant, as if just hearing our needs for filming, came to help right on time. We were able to upscale our project on promoting the invasive commercial species with this grant. The workshop also expanded our vision on the power of social media and how to target audiences. A film with a proper strategy will be the key promoting tool for this project."
As part of the grant, AKD's MPA manager, Zafer Kizilkaya, attended CMG's first Catalyst Workshop in New Hampshire. During the workshop week, we paired Zafer with filmmaker Ingrid Pfau & social strategist Lauren Reid to develop the AKD video campaign as their Capstone Project. The team created a strategy and approach to the invasive species video, including a call-to-action, as well as initial concepts and draft storylines. The result was an outline that Zafer was able to take back to Turkey as blue print for the larger project. In additional, because of his experience at the workshop, Zafer has hired Ingrid Pfau to continue her work on the videos as an editor. She will work on the project long-distance from her home in Alabama over the next two months.
After arriving back home to Turkey from the workshops, Zafer has made quick progress. They have begun shooting footage this past month with cinematographer Oytun Orgül, a long-time connection of CMG's sister organization, Compass Light Productions. Filming on “Promoting Invasive Commercial Species” (working title) was just completed in mid-August and post-production has already started. AKD is planning to have the final video completed in a few weeks at the beginning of September and they will start the delivery process immediately. The goal is place video locally on screens at the coop fish market & elsewhere in town where consumers are likely to be making decisions about what fish or meal to purchase at the market or at a restuarant. They will be measuring the impact of the video by looking at invasive fish species purchase numbers as well as the market value fluctuations for each invasive fish.
AKD is also focused on highlighting the importance of fisherwomen in their community, and has been developing various activities about fishing and training which will start in late September. They plan on filming for 7–10 days along the Datça and Bozburun Peninsulas and to finish field work sometime late October.
You can find more information and future updates on this project here.
This past spring CMG awarded our 2015 Blue Initiative grant to the Mediterranean Conservation Society (AKD). AKD is based in Izmir, Turkey, where their MPA manager, Zafer Kizilkaya is building and overseeing Turkey's first community-managed Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Gokova Bay, just southeast of Bodrum. Zafer and AKD work with local fishermen and fisherwomen, to engage and educate the community on the importance of protecting their local marine habitat.
One of the issues facing Gokova Bay is the rise of invasive fish species. To help combat this problem, they have created a campaign to promote consumption of these species to the fishermen and women who catch them, as well as to fish markets, restaurants and consumers who buy & sell them. The benefits to consuming more invasive fish species are many: controlling the invasive fish population, creating income for local fishermen & fisherwomen, providing more affordable food sources for locals, and boosting the local economy.
Through our 2015 Blue Initiative Grant, CMG has provided funding for AKD to produce a series of short videos (each under 3 minutes) to help create action as part of their invasive fish campaign. The videos focus on the training and engagement of fisherwomen in Gokova Bay as well as marketing the attractiveness of incorporating invasive fish species into the local, daily diet.
According to Zafer, "the Blue Initiative Grant, as if just hearing our needs for filming, came to help right on time. We were able to upscale our project on promoting the invasive commercial species with this grant. The workshop also expanded our vision on the power of social media and how to target audiences. A film with a proper strategy will be the key promoting tool for this project."
As part of the grant, AKD's MPA manager, Zafer Kizilkaya, attended CMG's first Catalyst Workshop in New Hampshire. During the workshop week, we paired Zafer with filmmaker Ingrid Pfau & social strategist Lauren Reid to develop the AKD video campaign as their Capstone Project. The team created a strategy and approach to the invasive species video, including a call-to-action, as well as initial concepts and draft storylines. The result was an outline that Zafer was able to take back to Turkey as blue print for the larger project. In additional, because of his experience at the workshop, Zafer has hired Ingrid Pfau to continue her work on the videos as an editor. She will work on the project long-distance from her home in Alabama over the next two months.
After arriving back home to Turkey from the workshops, Zafer has made quick progress. They have begun shooting footage this past month with cinematographer Oytun Orgül, a long-time connection of CMG's sister organization, Compass Light Productions. Filming on “Promoting Invasive Commercial Species” (working title) was just completed in mid-August and post-production has already started. AKD is planning to have the final video completed in a few weeks at the beginning of September and they will start the delivery process immediately. The goal is place video locally on screens at the coop fish market & elsewhere in town where consumers are likely to be making decisions about what fish or meal to purchase at the market or at a restuarant. They will be measuring the impact of the video by looking at invasive fish species purchase numbers as well as the market value fluctuations for each invasive fish.
AKD is also focused on highlighting the importance of fisherwomen in their community, and has been developing various activities about fishing and training which will start in late September. They plan on filming for 7–10 days along the Datça and Bozburun Peninsulas and to finish field work sometime late October.
You can find more information and future updates on this project here.