Indian Ocean sanctuary combines conservation and poverty alleviation
Indian Ocean sanctuary combines conservation and poverty alleviation
Community managed reserve builds up fish abundance and exports fish
Research by scientists at the University of St Andrews, the University of Aveiro, Zoological Society of London, and University of Lúrio, published in PLOS One, shows that the Vamizi Island marine sanctuary, in the north of Mozambique, has enhanced fish populations not only within the reserve but also in the surrounding area.
The paper is available to view here.
Vamizi and the surrounding islands harbour immense bio-diversity, with over 180 different species of coral and more than 400 species of reef fish recorded to date. It is also one of the poorest areas of the world, with local inhabitants relying almost exclusively on coral reef artisanal fisheries for their livelihood.
Until recently these coral reefs were under threat from fishing bandits, who had destroyed their own fishing sites with dynamite. Eight years ago the Vamizi Island sanctuary was established by the local Fisheries Council (CCP) in recognition of the international value of the Vamizi ecosystem and its importance to the livelihoods of local communities.
The Marine Sanctuary extends three kilometres out to sea around the eastern side of the island and represents a ‘no-take’ fishing zone. It is enforced by the CCP and represents one of the few working models of conservation through community, government and tourism cooperation in Mozambique.
This model of conservation is built on dialogue and negotiation between villagers, the CCP, marine biologists, and the tourism industry. The will to listen and to compromise, on all sides, has been essential and the sustainability of these compromises relies on evidence of success of the management actions.
The research published in here provides some of that evidence, and helps support a long-term future for this collaborative type of management.
Report lead author, PhD student Isabel Silva, said:
“Often, ecologists propose conservation solutions to a specific problem that aren’t well accepted by local inhabitants. It´s easy to arrive and set rules that will save the world in the long term, but that make the present lives of those who live on site more difficult. This can be even more dramatically unfair when the people who set the rules have always lived in abundance and will go back to their comfortable lives, while those on whom the rules are imposed on have to struggle for survival.”
“For once this is apparently not true. On Vamizi Island investors and ecologists have joined forces with a local community longing for development: and together they found a win/win solution.”
Data collected over the past six years shows that not only are there more and bigger fish within the reserve, but also that the sanctuary has had a spill-over effect outside its limits – thus improving the abundance of the fishes available for the villagers.
It was also established that the fish that swim out of the protected area and are caught by the fishermen are smaller than the ones that stay within the boundaries of the sanctuary, although they are bigger than the fish found in areas further from the sanctuary.
Co-author Dr Maria Dornelas, of the University of St Andrews School of Biology, concluded:
“This study shows that small community managed sanctuaries, respected by the whole community, can have a positive effect on the fish population of nearby areas. However, these effects are not immediate and may not be universal. Therefore, it is advisable to propose immediate incentives to help make communities more willing to close some areas to fishing.”