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Traditional Fisheries of Antongil Bay, Madagascar

Abstract:

Madagascar’s marine fisheries provide revenue and sustenance for the island nation. Antongil Bay, the largest shallow-water bay along Madagascar’s eastern coast, harbors significant marine resources and is heavily utilized by traditional, artisanal (shark-fin) and industrial fisheries. Mean hourly catch rates are just under 1 kg/hour/fisher and mean daily catch rates are 4.4 kg/day/fisher. Beach seines, tamis (fine mesh seines), and combined use of gillnet and line were the most efficient gear types in terms of hourly and daily catch rates while gillnet and line were the most common gear types employed. Catch composition included 140 fish species from 69 families. Overall catch was dominated by species from Scombridae and Carangidae (Atule mate, Decapterus russelli, Megalaspis cordyla, Rastrilliger kanagurta). The Bay appears to be an important breeding habitat for scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) and other species in the family Carcharhinidae. Given the multi-species and multi-sector nature of this fishery, ecosystem.

Keywords:

Traditional fisheries, Scombridae, Carangidae, beach seine, Antongil Bay. Madagascar

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2008
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Doukakis, P., Jonahson, M., Ramahery, V., de Dieu Randriamanantsoa, B. J., Harding, S. (2008) Traditional Fisheries of Antongil Bay, Madagascar. Western Indian Ocean J. Mar. Sci. Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 175–181, © 2007 WIOMSA
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Cabo Verde

At least 6,000 fishers and 3,500 processors – mostly women – and sellers are active in the fisheries sector. Almost all artisanal-caught fish is sold and consumed locally, but fish from the distant-water industrial fleet accounts for 80% of exports from Cabo Verde.

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Extending for some 2,700km, Mozambique’s coastline is the third longest in the Indian ocean and supports millions of people with food and income. 

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Madagascar

Blue Ventures’ journey began in Madagascar in 2003, and we’ve been supporting communities in marine conservation across the country ever since. We have five regional field programmes along Madagascar’s west coast, as well as regional offices in the towns of Ambanja, Mahajanga, Morondava and Toliara. Our national headquarters is located in the capital Antananarivo.

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Our work focuses on strengthening community institutions in marine management and governance, and pioneering new approaches to catalyse community engagement in ocean conservation. These innovations have included establishing community led ecological monitoring and the country’s first mangrove blue carbon project.

At the national level, we partner with the LMMA network MIHARI, which brings together 25 partner conservation organisations supporting 219 LMMA sites across the country. Our policy team is also actively involved in advocating for more robust legislation to safeguard the rights and interests of fishing communities, and to remove destructive industrial fishing from coastal waters. In 2022 we supported the launch of Fitsinjo, an industrial fisheries watchdog organisation. The network highlights industrial fishing and IUU activities in Madagascar and the broader Western Indian Ocean region.

Given the lack of basic services in remote coastal regions in Madagascar, we also help communities access basic healthcare through training and supporting women to serve as community health workers. We do not replace government health systems, but work to strengthen existing structures in close collaboration with government health actors and specialist NGOs. We also incubate Madagascar’s national health-environment network, which brings together 40 partner organisations to address the health needs of communities living in areas of conservation importance across the country.