Communication and raising awareness are the pillars of environmental protection.

Laws are an important factor for environmental protection, but it is the will of the public that will make the difference. It is important to raise awareness of the richness of our territories, but also of their fragility. We need to realize that it is through our daily actions that we can make a difference. For example, if a consumer creates a demand, the fisherman responds to this demand.

To share and raise awareness, an exhibition will soon be set up on each island of the French West Indies. The objective will be to present the diversity and the fragility of the shark and ray populations that frequent the shallow waters and to present good practices.

To protect, we need knowledge.

• What shark and ray species are present in the shallow waters of the French West Indies?
• When are these species present?
• Are they present on all the islands?
• What are the potential local threats to their populations?
• Are they in contact with human activities?

With so many questions in need of an answers, we came up with two main methods to collect the necesarry knowledge:

• Scientific monitoring based on aerial surveys. The shallow waters of the French West Indies were explored with a drone. This method makes it possible to identify the species present and count the number of individuals which frequent the shallow waters.
• Aquisition and valorisation of sea user's knowledge. Who is best placed to know the sea? The local users! Fishermen, divers, swimmers use the sea every day. Participatory science was used to record sightings of sharks and rays. The collected data made it possible to produce distribution maps for each species and to collect information about shark and ray interactions with humain activities.

With the presence of critically endangered species (i.e. Caribbean numbfish, Narcine bancroftii), of endemic Caribbean species (i.e. the Caribbean reef shark, Carcharhinus perezi), and of many nurseries and breeding areas, the French West Indies have an important role in the conservation of shark and ray populations.

However, the protection of species that have a negative image remains a challenge, even more so due to the accidents that take place each year on the French island of La Reunion.

This project aims to propose the first measures for the conservation of sharks and rays: adaptation of fishing regulations, development of sustainable tourism practices, ect.

Les bénévoles sont fortement engagés dans les processus de communication destinés à rechercher des changements dans la société, et remplissent quatre fonctions : informer, persuader, divertir et éduquer.

Le travail de communication est essentiel pour que la société connaisse les ressources naturelles et les valorise afin d’augmenter les efforts d’éducation, de favoriser une prise de conscience environnementale et de contribuer à une meilleure conservation des espaces naturels.