ACHIEVEMENTS:

To promote Sustainable management of small-scale coastal fisheries in Northern Madagascar, the ECOFISH-C3 Madagascar provided the following supports to date:

• 223 fishers attended the consultation meeting on sustainable small-scale fisheries in Ampasindava, Anjiamaloto and Sarimbatavo, Amboaboaka:
• 24 data collectors from Ambolobozokely and Irodo trained in catch data collection
• 17 Youth outreach activities on fisheries and marine management organised
• 641 Junior Ecoguards built their capacity and knowledge on marine biodiversity and habitat monitoring
• 7 communities and 221 Junior Ecoguards reached through Communities sensitization campaign on biodiversity, fisheries laws and sea turtles
• Over 1200 students and 130 Junior Ecoguards participated in international awareness day, including World Environmental Day, World Sea turtles Day and World Ocean Days
• Distribution of 120 copies of C3’s new storybooks on marine habitats (mangrove, seagrass and coral reef) and Ecofish tshirts for the new Junior Ecoguard Club at Ambolobozobe.
• Signed MoU with the Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy on long-term small-scale fisheries management partnership.
• Drafted new MoU between CI, WWF and MNP regarding collaboration and coordination of new BIOPAMA (IUCN) project to complement ECOFISH objectives supporting LMMAs in Nosy Hara Marine Park, value chain analysis of octopus fishery and fisher capacity building and registration programme.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS:

• High level of awareness of fishing rules and regulations
• Increased motivation for the active management of their respective LMMAs
• Capacity building for fishermen’s unions and women’s associations
• Establishment of management and monitoring plans
• Capacity building with 300 local fishermen trained in the management and control of marine protected areas (50% women)
• Equality between the number of men and women in participation in the discourse and management of protected areas
• Availability of active management regimes and related fisheries policy documents
• Sharing of good practices resulting from the intervention and associated reports, at the national level to facilitate replication
• Ensuring food safety
• Elimination of threats from migrant fishermen which will strengthen community ownership and control of coastal resources
• Offer of safety margin for the recovery of habitats and fish stocks by LMMAs in the event of natural disasters (cyclones, floods, etc.)

ACTIVITIES:

• Monthly data collection at landing sites (12 months)
• Socio-economic surveys of households dependent on fishing
• Training of 30 local investigators (fishermen) at the landing sites in each zone
• Regular quality control and evaluation of data collected by the landing site teams
• Development of community fisheries management structures
• Identification of lessons learned when developing the community application program through stakeholder consultation
• Development of a guidance note in collaboration with local fisheries management structures
• Training of 30 junior eco-guards per site focused on fisheries management
• Quarterly social marketing events at each site
• Consultations with community and local management structures. Identification of key areas on which to focus fisheries management
• Development of formal management plans approved by the community
• Consensus reached on the most likely management measure to be successful
• Implementation of measures
• Continuous monitoring of implementation success and impacts on fish stocks and catches
• Collaboration with the MIHARI network to promote information exchange meetings with other LMMAs