To increase marine protected areas (MPA) cover- age in Madagascar (to date, only 0.2% of Mada- gascar’s total marine area is protected through fully gazetted MPAs), the Wildlife Conservation Society has supported since 2010 the creation and management of three new MPAs protecting
463,100 hectares of marine hotspots along Mad- agascar West Coast: Soariake MPA in the South
West and Ankarea and Ankivonjy MPAs in the
North West. In 2013, WCS Ocean Giants Program
Completed a second season of surveys to estab- lish the status of cetaceans in Ankivonjy MPA. In
2012 the first survey indicated Ankivonjy MPA to be a diversity hotpot with nine species of ceta- ceans spotted during a three-week period. During November 2013, the team returned to site, based on Nosy Iranja for 4 weeks and documented an additional three new species, including sperm
whales, Fraser’s dolphins, and an unusual species of rorqual baleen whale similar to Bryde’s whales, but distinctly different from known populations in the region; genetic analysis will confirm the spe- cies identity of this mysterious finding. This new work brings the total to 12 different species of
cetaceans documented in a notably short amount of field effort. With blue whales, humpback
whales, beaked whales and 7 species of dolphins, it is clear that this region is ecologically important for cetacean species.