Evaluering
Southern Toliara Marine Natural Resources Management Final and External Evaluation Report
The coastal zone of the southern region of Toliara (also included into the Southwest Region referring to the new administrative structure recently established in Madagascar) has long been recognized for its extraordinary beauty, and its exceptional natural ecosystem, many areas of which are still intact. The area is home to a rich diversity of biological habitats, including coral reefs, lagoons, mangroves, dunes and spiny bush and forests which are unusual vegetation types dominated by densely spiny cactus-like plants. Many areas are still ecologically healthy, but some, such as coral reefs, coastal lagoons, and mangroves, have been severely degraded by human activities. The ecosystem between Anakao and Androka, in the south - western region of Madagascar, has been subject to pressures from the Vezo people, an ethnic group of traditional fishermen, who consider themselves to be the owners of the sea and as such, manage marine resource use by means of taboos and traditional norms based on empirical knowledge of the dynamics of this ecosystem.The ecosystem has also been subject to pressure - either occasionally or seasonally but at quite significant degrees and likely to bring about irreversible degradation - from destructive fishing practices by farmers and/or cattle raisers who seasonally revert to fishing because of insufficient harvests and lack of other livelihood opportunities. These two groups of fish resource users (fishermen and non-fishermen) are both economically vulnerable. The fishing population has no other means of subsistence than fishing. The others are increasingly indulging in fishing activities with inappropriate methods and techniques.mIn such a situation, the ecosystem, already of a fragile type, is exposed to degradation due to the exploitation carried out by these two groups of socially and economically vulnerable users. This situation is worsened by the limited capacity of fishermen to invest in more sustainable and profitable methods of fishing and by the accentuated occurrence of sedimentation threatening the coral reef.