Antongil bay seascape represents some
of the largest expanse of continuous pristine coastal habitat in
Madagascar, with high marine productivity and diversity. Surrounded by
lush tropical forests, Antongil Bay is the largest and most productive
bay in the Western Indian Ocean also serving as a mating and nursery
ground for many marine species such as sharks and humpback whales. The
bay is globally important for its role as a mating ground for humpback
whales, and is one of the largest and best-studied wintering sites in
the Indian Ocean. Research in Antongil Bay suggests that the population
of humpback whales utilizing the Bay is composed of approximately 7000
individuals and is continuing to recover from depletion by commercial
whaling that occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The bay
contains many marine habitats: estuaries, mangroves, rocky shores,
highly resilient coral reefs, and seagrass beds. Antongil Bay is home to
mangroves and coral reef habitats, as well as 13 marine mammal species,
3 marine turtle species, and around 140 fish species.
THREATS
Overexploitation due to increasing human
population, destructive fishing practices, and lack of compliance with
fishing gear restrictions are driving degradation of coastal habitat and
the bay’s fisheries, including a loss of coral reefs and declines in
fish and invertebrate abundance. Antongil Bay faces threats from high
fishing pressure and illegal fishing, depletion of mangrove forests,
sedimentation from terrestrial runoff, climate change and petroleum
industry exploration and production.
Responses
WCS first involvement in the area led to
the implementation in 1997 of the three marine parks of Masoala
National Park, the characterization of fisheries present in the region,
the identification of Antongil Bay as an important wintering habitat for
humpback whales, the development of regulations on whale watching
activities in Madagascar to minimize the negative effects associated
with whale watching, the production of a waterproof guide on Marine
Mammals of Madagascar and the implementation of an integrated coastal
zone management (ICZM) strategy with several successes to date:
capacity building of environmental
community based organizations (such as PCDDBA, finalist of 2012 UNDP
Equator Prize), the ban of beach seining - a destructive fishing
practice, the adoption of a community- focused and spatially-explicit
zoning plan for targeting actions in the terrestrial and near shore to
promote sustainable and adaptive management of the bay and surrounding
areas, the creation and management of 26 locally managed marine areas
(LMMA), the adoption of a multi stakeholders platform – the Regional
Integrated Coastal Zone Management Committee, and the monitoring of
critical habitats and species conditions to inform adaptive management.