An assessment of local fisheries in Diego-Suarez Bay, Madagascar

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Table 3. Fishermen’s opinion on resource use in Diego-Suarez Bay (n=40) Question Fishing should be restricted to specific areas 22 28 11 39 0 Use fishing nets with > 4 cm mesh 33 44 17 6 0 Communities should work together on resource use 39 39 11 11 0 Deforestation in coastal areas should be stopped 50 39 0 6 6 Only catch large fish 50 44 6 0 0 Do nothing specific, there is enough fish 0 56 6 33 6 Fish on certain days 22 61 6 6 6 A fisherman should decide himself how much fish he catches 22 56 11 11 0 Pray or ask ancestors for more fish 11 44 28 17 0 The government in Diego should control fish catch size 6 33 33 17 11 Eat less fish 33 17 33 6 11 Only catch certain fish species 17 39 28 17 0 Village chief should control the size of fish catches 28 56 11 0 6 Get more tourists to the bay as an alternative source of income 39 44 6 11 0 In response to whether fishing has an impact on the environment 78% of fishermen said it did have an impact and 28% said it had no impact. The majority of fishermen stated that there were fadys associated with fishing in Diego-Suarez Bay (71%). Responses to questions on how best to ensure the availability of marine resources for future generations varied with no outstanding universal answer for each question (table 3). The majority of people strongly agreed that deforestation in coastal areas should be stopped and only large fish should be caught. The greater part of fishermen agreed that: fishing nets with > 4 cm mesh should be used; nothing specific should be done as there is enough fish; only go out fishing on certain days; a fisherman should decide himself how much fish he catches; pray or ask ancestors for more fish; only certain fish species should be caught; the village chief should control the size of fish catches, communities should work together on resource use and more tourists should be taken to the bay as an alternative source of income. Most disagreed that fishing should be restricted to specific areas. There was a split majority opinion on two questions: 1. The government in Diego should control fish catch size (33% agree and neutral) and 2. Eat less fish (33% strongly agree and neutral), eating more zebu (a species of domestic tropical cattle) was mentioned by some fishermen as an alternative. 3.2 Resource Status and visual observations 3.2.1 Line Intercept Transect (LIT) The relationship between mean hard coral cover and number of fishing vessels at each sector (figure 8) was tested using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. There was no association between hard coral cover and number of fishing vessels (rs = 0.414, n=17, p > 0.05). 3.2.2 Underwater Visual Census (UVC) Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was also used to test if there was an association between mean fish biomass vs. number of fishing vessels, mean fish species richness vs. number of fishing vessels and mean number of fish counted vs. number of fishing vessels (fish biomass, mean fish species richness and mean number of fish counted data only available from January 2008 to December 2008 for sectors 0-5, Nosy Fano, Nosy Koba and Nosy Langoro). There was an association between mean fish biomass vs. number of fishing vessels (rs = 0.708, n = 9, p < 0.05) (figure 9). However no association was found for the other two tests (fish species richness vs. number of fishing vessels, rs = 0.225, n = 9, p > 0.05; mean number of fish counted vs. number of fishing vessels rs = 0.225, n = 9, p > 0.05). Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree 10
Mean % hard coral cover 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 10 20 30 40 Number of vessels recorded Figure 8. Relationship between mean hard coral cover and number of fishing vessels recorded in sectors 0-11, Nosy Fano, Nosy Koba, Ramena, Nosy Langoro, Nosy Loapasana) from July 2005 to December 2008 Mean fish biomass (g/100m) 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 0 10 20 30 40 Number of vessels recorded Figure 9. Relationship between mean fish biomass (from January 2008 to December 2008) and number of vessels recorded at sectors 0-5, Nosy Fano, Nosy Koba, Nosy Langoro (July 2005 to December 2008). Dark line indicates linear trendline 11
Page 1: Frontier Madagascar Environmental R
Page 4 and 5: Suggested Technical Paper citation:
Page 6 and 7: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report is the
Page 8 and 9: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The artisanal fis
Page 10 and 11: 2 Methods and Materials 2.1 Survey
Page 12 and 13: 3 Results 3.1 Socio-economic data P
Page 14 and 15: ut the majority of fishermen do not
Page 18 and 19: Mean number of fish 14 12 10 8 6 4
Page 20 and 21: either poisonous to eat (in the cas
Page 22 and 23: 4 Discussion 4.1 Socio-economic and
Page 24 and 25: elieved that the size has decreased
Page 26 and 27: Identifying where the main fishing
Page 28 and 29: 6 References Adam, M.S., Anderson,
Page 30 and 31: Appendices Sample Questionnaire Fis

An assessment of local fisheries in Diego-Suarez Bay, Madagascar

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