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(June 27, 2013) In October 2013, three WCS Malagasy staffs were invited by the International Union for Con- servation of Nature, the French Marine Protected Area Agency, and the Western Indian Ocean Ma- rine Science Association (WIOMSA) to share their hands-on experience in implementing communi- ty-driven field marine conservation at the third International Marine Protected Area Congress (IMPAC3) in Marseille and at the eighth WIOMSA Scientific Symposium in Maputo. WCS is grateful to the Prince Alber...

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(June 18, 2013) The Masoala National Park (a World Heritage site), Makira Natural Park, and Antongil Bay comprise the epicenter of Madagascar's unique biodiversity. Known as MaMaBay, this land/seascape encompasses more than one million hectares of land and sea in the north- eastern region of the country and contains the largest remaining tract of pristine eastern rainforest in Madagascar as well as man- groves and coral reef habitats along Antongil Bay, Madagascar's largest bay and world- famous as...

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(June 11, 2013) In October 2012, WCS in partnership with GRET (a French development NGO), PCDDBA (a local association) and Madagascar National Parks, started a new project funded by the European Union, whose objective is to con- tribute to food security and poverty reduction for effective preservation of natural resources in and around the Mananara National Park (NE Madagascar). The proposed action will contribute to improved livelihoods and resil- ience of vulnerable populations living in pe- ripheral areas of...

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(March 14, 2013) The Convention on International Trade in Endan- gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) plenary on March 14 2013 accepted Committee recommendations to list five species of highly traded sharks under the CITES Appendices, along with those for the listing of both manta rays and one species of sawfish. This vote is a first, critical step in working to ensure that international trade does not threaten the survival of shark and ray species, a quarter of which are threatened with extinction w...

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(January 15, 2013) A new study co-authored by the Wildlife Conservation Society assesses the magnitude of the changes and evaluates the causes of reef degradation of the Grand Récif of Toliara which stretches about 19km off south- west Madagascar. It was regarded previously as hav- ing the richest biodiversity system in the Indian Ocean, with more than 6000 species identified in the 1960s, and has been highly degraded since the 1980s. Human population growth and migration, over- fishing,...

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(December 29, 2012) Madagascar’s Exclusive Economic Zone covers over 1,140,000 square kilometers of marine habitats, twice the area of the island. The length of the coast of Madagascar is about 6000 km, which represents nearly a third of the coastline of all countries of the Western Indian Ocean combined.Madagascar is the country that hosts the second largest area of man- groves and the largest area of coral reefs in the West- ern Indian Ocean. The Island’s coastal habitats, spe- cifically...

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(December 16, 2012) For the last 10 years a coral reef monitoring program has been active in the northeast to assess the management effectiveness of the four oldest national marine parks of Mada- gascar (Tampolo, Masoala, Tanjona and Nosy Antafana). This is a collaborative program between WCS and Madagascar National Parks (MNP). WCS provided several SCUBA diving and reef monitoring protocol training to MNP field staff of the four marine parks. Also, each year a joint WCS-MNP reef monitoring cam- paign is c...

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(December 12, 2012) Interview surveys with Malagasy fishers, aimed at gathering traditional knowledge and information on hunting and by-catch of all marine mammals, were conducted in 58 vil- lages in 13 locations along the west coast by the WCS Ocean Giants team, during five dif- ferent expeditions between 2008 and 2011. There were a total of 533 reports of dugongs spread across 6 decades, with 318 reports of ‘hunting’, 110 reported ‘by-caught’, 101 re- ported sighted ‘live&rs...

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(December 11, 2012) Coastal dolphins and other large marine vertebrates were assessed in the Nosy Iranja and Ampasindava peninsula region (Ankivonjy MPA) and in the waters of Nosy Be during November and December 2012 by the WCS Ocean Giants team. During the 36-day expedition, 132 hours of surveys were conducted in Ankivonjy MPA and 118 hours around Nosy Be. Ten species of cetaceans were sighted in 58 groups during the surveys (nine species in Ankivonjy alone). Among the Mysticetes (large baleen whal...

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(December 05, 2012) Study Shows Nations at Risk, ScienceDaily, October 17, 2012. A new study co-authored by the Wildlife Conserva- tion Society identifies countries, including Madagas- car, most vulnerable to declining coral reef fisheries from a food-security perspective. "The study identi- fies countries where climate change is likely to be felt first by threatening people that depend on fish- eries," said the study's co-author Tim McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "These coun- tries are prio...

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