The Antongil Bay Fisheries Co-Management Plan (ABFMP) is a national level legal framework to recognize local community management rights. It was developed through significant collaborative efforts between WCS, resources users, and Government. The result was the first seascape scale traditional, artisanal and industrial fisheries co-management plan in Madagascar covering 3,746 km2 of marine habitats that officially confers fisheries management authority to local communities. The plan acknowledges the role of Antongil Bay marine reserves for resource recovery, and fixes maximum levels for traditional, artisanal and industrial fishing efforts. The decree adopting the ABFMP grants the fishermen’s associations the rights to develop regulations adapted to the local context, identify and implement practical measures to ensure respect of regulations, register and issue licenses to local fishers, and establish and enforce different zones within the local managed fishing areas. Local fisher associations are officially accountable for the implementation of ABFMP and they actively participate in inspection, surveillance and monitoring activities.
- Significant stakeholder consultation over a long period (108 meetings, 6 workshops, 1466 participants over 7 months)
- Simultaneous efforts to increase the awareness of local communities in relation to the social, economic and conservation value of marine resources and ecosystem functioning so that they have information to actively participate in debates and discussions
- Facilitation of cooperation between stakeholders at different levels by establishment of a multi-partner association (PCDDBA) to provide a platform for exchange and discussion
- It is essential to ensure that all actors in the process have the same and equal levels of information and in particular that the local community has the capacity to be actively engaged
- There is a need to plan resources for accompaniment of the process over the long term to as to be able to absorb inevitable delays and still see the process to the end
- There is a need to manage community and Government expectations about the timing for the generation of positive results from the implementation of such a process
- Careful facilitation of the process is needed to overcome traditional and cultural barriers that create obstacles for full involvement by marginal groups (poor households, local fishers, women, youth etc.)