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Traditional coastal invertebrate fisheries in south-western Madagascar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2009

David K.A. Barnes
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK Frontier, 50-52 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3QP, UK
Kate A. Rawlinson*
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Marine Station, 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida. 34949, USA Frontier, 50-52 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3QP, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: K.A. Rawlinson, Smithsonian Marine Station, 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida. 34949, USA email: rawlinsonk@si.edu

Abstract

The identification of key resource users and patterns of depletion alongside ecological data are presented for a small-scale traditional invertebrate fishery in south-western Madagascar. Men, women and children undertake the fishery in the Anakao region at different phases of the tide and for different purposes. Invertebrate harvest data from June to September 2000 estimated that more than 34 taxa were caught and were dominated by holothurians destined for export and molluscs for local consumption. Crustacea formed a small component of the fishery despite a high diversity and abundance of many potentially edible species. Although there was slight spatial variation in number of species caught and their relative importance to the fishery, Chicoreus ramosus, Fasciolaria trapezium and Octopus vulgaris were generally most heavily targeted and were amongst the most abundant in the catch. There were several indications of over-exploitation of invertebrate stocks, including the absence of many large bodied species, low abundance of high yield species, greater catch effort needed for high yield taxa, and higher diversity of targeted species (including many low yield taxa) at sites of higher human habitation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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