Local | PANORAMA

CMA+R networks

With support from the Blue Action Fund and SIDA/IUCN, Rare Mozambique, in partnership with coastal communities and government fisheries administration staff, is finalizing fisheries management plans including community managed access areas and recently-fi

Rare

Community-Managed Access and Reserve (CMA+R) areas are a spatial fisheries co-management tool in which communities and governments work together to identify locations for restricted fishing. Managed Access areas allow communities to set rules and restrictions on fishing, such as disallowing destructive gear, establishing seasonal fishing bans, or limiting the number of fishers allowed to fish in the area; and they enable communities to participate the surveillance and enforcement of these rules. Reserve areas are no-take zones where fishing communities agree to never fish, thereby protecting critical habitats and allowing fish stocks to recovery. The two types of protected area work together, allowing communities to sustainably fish from CMA areas adjacent to Reserves whose ecological integrity feed the fishery. “Networks” of multiple CMA+R areas across a coastline have the same positive feedback effect over a wider geography.

CMA+R areas must be legitimized through legal mechanisms that explicitly make this approach enforceable. Functional and formally recognized community management bodies must exist, and they must have institutional capacity to manage fisheries. Finally, both community management bodies and government partners must have access to accurate fisheries data that allows them to make appropriate decisions based on a clear understanding of the number of fishers, the amount of fish being caught, the income fishers are earning, and changes in these trends.

CMA+R design is a complex process, and must take into account ecological, social, and economic impact of fishing restrictions. Rare has found that using a larval dispersal model helps to determine the most ecologically advantageous areas for CMA+R designation, because larval dispersal shows those habitats where young fish are most likely to recruit, grow, and thereby replenish fisheries stocks. However, only repeated community consultation and extensive household surveys can reveal the social and economic concerns involved in CMA+R design, as well as the local ecological knowledge that larval models may overlook. Robust community participation is absolutely essential to establishing effective boundaries that people can and will support. For this reason, steady and intentional community engagement efforts are crucial to the successful design and implementation of CMA+R.

Implementation

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Enabling Policy

Enabling policy establishes the conditions that make fisheries co-management legal, designs of "Managed Access" areas with no-take reservers implementable, and data-based management functional.

This building block requires relationships with government at multiple scales, including national, provincial, and district levels. It also requires relationships with community-based institutions whose input can set policy priorities and whose functionality demonstrates value to decision makers in government. Finally, enabling policy is dependent on a clearly defined policy strategy that identifies key goals, evidence-based solutions, the stakeholders who will be most impacted by policy changes, and those best positioned to advocate and enact change.

Policy change is slow, and Rare has learned that government processes often work on their own timeframes regardless of project plans. This is true for the development of policy documents, the passage of laws, and the approval of submitted plans and proposals. In all cases, Rare found that steady and regular engagement with government partners was key for sustaining momentum. Likewise, Rare learned the importance of working simultaneously at multiple geographic scales. Enabling national legislation is essential for effective management, but it is insufficient for meaningful implementation. For this, Provincial and District policies are necessary, including the allocation of local budgets, the procedures of implementing agencies, and the active support of local elected officials. Finally, we found that an adaptive approach to policy work is the most effective strategy. Government priorities can shift quickly when elections and appointments bring new decision makers into the conversation, and when circumstances require the government’s immediate attention.

East and South Africa

Network of Community -Managed MPAs for Inshore Small-Scale Fisheries in Mozambique

Zach

Lowe

Enabling Policy

CMA+R networks

Behavior Adoption Campaigns

Financial Inclusion

East and South Africa

Network of Community -Managed MPAs for Inshore Small-Scale Fisheries in Mozambique

Zach

Lowe

Enabling Policy

CMA+R networks

Behavior Adoption Campaigns

Financial Inclusion

East and South Africa

Network of Community -Managed MPAs for Inshore Small-Scale Fisheries in Mozambique

Zach

Lowe

Enabling Policy

CMA+R networks

Behavior Adoption Campaigns

Financial Inclusion

Annual monitoring of the seagrass beds

Seagrass monitoring

C3 Madagascar

We applied the Seagrass-Watch methodology, which consists in surveying seagrass beds with a quadrat, and help to assess the different species, their density and their health status

Results: For the sites surveyed, seagrass mean cover was from 7.5 % to 38.6%

Identification of dominant species
identification of dominant species and their average coverage

Annual monitoring should be maintained in order to know the state of the meadows and in order to take necessary measures in case of important degradations

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GIS mapping of seagrass meadows

Based on the survey results, we went to the seagrass areas where fishermen said they had observed dugongs. We dived to verify that seagrass meadows were in the location, and we took GIS points, in order to produce a more precise map of the ecosystem.

Identification of hotspots for seagrass beds and dugongs
Ground truthing by boat and snorkel

It is important and necessary to have a baseline map of the initial state (for reference) of the meadows in order to observe their evolution.

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Participatory approach

community consultation

C3 Madagascar

community interview

C3 Madagascar

We conducted a qualitative survey among fishing communities living in the area by using incidental sighting reports and the CMS short version questionnaire. The questions touched mostly upon their observations of dugongs when at sea. We asked what behaviours they had when spotting (were they eating, resting, dead, alive, bycaught,…?)

The answers to the questionnaires allowed us to draw an approximative map of their main habitats.

During studies on sea turtles, we conducted key informant interviews (by using a questionnaire too) to identify turtle nesting and feeding areas. This also allowed us to identify potential and important areas of seagrass beds.

We have been working in the area for a long time, and have established trustful relationships with the fishing communities.
Consultations with local communities have enabled us to discover traditional community practices on dugongs and their cultural significance. We produced a children's book about the dugong and sea turtle that shares informative information about the interaction between the species and its habitat.
No dead or captured dugongs have been recorded for over 10 years in Nosy Hara since C3 began its interventions.

Involving local communities in monitoring activities raises their awareness and involvement in resource conservation in general. Thanks to our community consultation, we identified one further hotspot we were unaware of previously.

Fishermen’s knowledge (especially the elders) is important information and gives an idea of the evolution or the level of change observed in the ecosystems.

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