A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

PART III
Case Histories of Marine Protected Areas
6. Cousin Island, a Sea and Island Reserve
Scientifically Managed by an NGO
Cousin Island is one of the 115 islands which comprise the Republic of Seychelles.
It is a small (27ha) granite island. It lies approximately 4 km SSW of the Northeastern
most point of Praslin the second largest island. It is physically dominated by
a granite hill that rises to 69m, and is bordered by a broad flat plain of phosphatic
sandstone fringed by beaches of sand. In 1968, the island was purchased by the
International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), now BirdLife International, with
funds raised through an international campaign. BirdLife International managed it
from its UK office until the country office, BirdLife Seychelles, was created in January
1998. It was designated a Special Reserve under Seychelles national law in 1975. The
National Parks and Nature Conservancy Act 1969, as amended in 1973, states that a
Special Reserve is ”an area in which the characteristic wildlife requires protection
and in which all other interests and activities are subordinated to this end.”
Activities on the island, since acquisition in 1968 have revolved around scientific
research, conservation and education. The activities have been guided by a series of
Management Plans. Approximately 125 scientific papers, articles and reports have been
written on Cousin’s biodiversity to date. Educational activities through tourism bring
six thousand to eight thousand visitors a year. The Reserve was run by expatriate
Scientific Wardens until 1984, when local staff took over. The management focus since
then has been principally awareness-oriented and non-interventionist, the principal
aim being to protect biodiversity.
The habitats present on the island include salt-tolerant woodland, rocky
communities, a small mangrove system, sandy shores and coral reefs. The island has
always been managed as a “sea and island reserve” and marine life is afforded equal
protection to terrestrial biota. The Special Reserve area includes the surrounding marine
waters up to 400 m offshore in all directions around the island. To the north and east
there is high coral cover on the reef—although very severe coral bleaching occurred
in 1998. In the Northeast the spur-and-groove formation has a rich coral community
but different from that on the main reef front. Patch reefs are also found here. So
far, 217 species of coral reef fish have been recorded within the Reserve boundaries.
Recent comparative studies of marine protected areas in the granitic islands have shown
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