For decades, tensions have simmered between Madagascar’s small-scale fishers and the industrial trawlers that operate near the country’s coast. In 2017, the small-scale fishers called for an exclusive-access zone that would keep the trawlers away from the shore. This year, they got their wish, at least on paper: the government issued a regulation that prohibits industrial fishing within 2 nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) of the shore.
Civil society members celebrated the new regulation, which took effect July 1. The rule could help protect marine habitats and improve coastal livelihoods by increasing the amount of available fish and shrimp, experts say. However, they caution that enforcing the rule will be difficult — and indeed, there’s evidence that some trawlers may be violating it.
Trawlers still fish regularly within 2 nautical miles of Nosy Faly, a small island just off Madagascar’s northwest coast, fishers there told Mongabay.
“I see them every day,” said Gamal Ahmed, a Nosy Faly fisher and president of a regional fishers’ federation. “There has been no change. Even if this regulation came out, it didn’t change anything.”
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Madagascar’s small fishers cheer new trawl-free zone, but do trawlers obey it?