Threatened biodiversity in Madagascar

Project Oratsimba: Phase IV is supporting the communities of Sainte Luce and Elodrato in strengthening their Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs); areas of protected ocean that are managed by coastal communities. As part of a range of management measures, both communities have decided to implement a No Take Zone (NTZ), an area of key habitat where – for most of the year – lobster fishing does not take place, giving marine life a chance to recover and regenerate, thus ensuring the security of lobster stock in the region.

The NTZs opened this year in July, and the payoff has been immense.Some fishers were reporting landings as much as five times higher than normal. The president of the Sainte Luce Fisheries Management Committee was particularly proud to see the payoff from this community-elected initiative:

“Because of the NTZ, our life has changed. Before the NTZ, we, were really suffering because there were hardly any lobsters and fish… Even our kids did not go to school anymore as we could not afford the school fees. It has been going very well since the existence of the NTZ. Now, the kids are going back to school in September.”

Before the NTZ, fishers were struggling to catch enough and afford costs, such as school fees, but with management measures in place, this has started to change. A fisher from Elodrato, shared this sentiment and support of the closure, stating “My catch on the first opening day was 5.6kg [of lobster]. I don’t normally catch that much, but that happened because of this NTZ.”

Community-based approaches are key strategies for marine conservation and sustainable management, enabling resource users to assume responsibility for the management of marine resources.

Some of SEED’s conservation efforts are focused on research while some have the added focus of spreading awareness and involving the community. I am excited to update you on the community response from Project Oritsamba, which focuses on the insecurity of the lobster industry and the progress of Project Palms, which aims to conserve six threatened palm species. 

SEED is extremely enthusiastic about Project Oristamba -created for the 80% of households that receive their income from lobster fishing- and based on a July interview so is the local community! One fisherman stated that “in the past, in our community everybody steal but now during conservation project everybody doing things wisely, the benefit of this project is when we catch someone stealing we meet together to talk about it.”  Another community member, Malala emphasised the need for community involvement, stating that “it is not only men who are responsible for the marine resources conservation but women are responsible as well.” As an ambassador, she “raises the awareness of women in [her] community to work together in marine resources conservation.” There are already plans of turning this enthusiasm into community meetings about conservation efforts to improve the livelihoods of the coastal communities! 

Since it began in August 2021, Project Palms has officially sprouted life! Seeds planted in March began to emerge last month and we’ve collected over 5,000 seeds from five target species. Over 4,900 of these have been planted in SEED’s nursery and the sixth species is expected to fruit in November. Other research efforts have been focused on understanding the population size, distribution, threats, health, and everything else necessary to better understand and protect the species. This has been done by constructing a census- and we are halfway there. We expect to have a full census by early 2023! I look forward to sharing the extended progress in the coming months from both of these projects and others that work to conserve the rich biodiversity of Madagascar. Thank you for being a part of it!