Dugongs and Sustainable Development A Journalist's Briefing by WWF
March 17, 1998
(En Françe)
(In German)
Bazaruto Archipelago |
Location: |
Mozambique Channel 500 Km north of Maputo, 20 Km east of Vilanculos
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Size: |
5 islands, largest 42 kilometres long |
Wildlife: |
Over 2,000 fish species, More than 180 bird species,3 species whales,4 species dolphins, dugong ( threatened), crocodiles, red duiker, red squirrels, samango monkeys, four-toed elephant shrew, snakes |
WWF: |
Active in islands since 1989 |
Goal: |
National Park status for all islands, and co-management with local communities |
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Pristine for most of this century, the five islands that comprise the
Bazaruto Archipelago are ecological gems in the azure waters of the
Indian Ocean. Renowned for their diverse animal and plant populations,
they are havens for humpback whales, sea turtles, and the
highly-threatened sea cow, or dugong. And for nearly a decade
WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature has worked to keep it that way. With
the Mozambican Wildlife Department and other conservation groups such
as the Endangered Wildlife Trust, WWF is working to manage tourism
development, encourage sustainable fishing, and promote the entire
island chain as a National Park, successfully weaving traditional activities
by developing a collaborative management scheme by local stakeholders
together with park authorities.
WWF in Bazaruto
Since 1989, WWF has worked with local government agencies and other
conservation organizations, boosting staff on-site and promoting
programmes to help local Tsonga communities manage resources
sustainably. As part of this, nature guards hired from nearby villages
monitor protected reefs and spread conservation messages. Local
communities themselves now protect female turtles and eggs and
crocodile nests.
A conservation management plan provides guidelines for tourist
development, sustainable fishing and farming, and forges the tools
necessary for achieving our ultimate goal--protection of entire island
chain as a National Park. The three most southern islands, Benguera,
Magaruque and Bangue already merit park status as the Parque
Nacional do Bazaruto. The islands of Bazaruto and Santa Carolina
remain only "Zones of Surveillance," which offer less than adequate
legislative protection.
Crown Jewels of the Western Indian Ocean
The five sandy islands that make up the Bazaruto Archipelago are
located in the Mozambique Channel, 500 kilometres north of Maputo and
about 20 kilometres east of Vilanculos. The largest, Bazaruto, is 42
kilometres long and about four kilometres wide. All the islands support a
bounty of diverse wildlife, the most astounding of which is seen in the
sapphire-blue waters that lap at their shores.
The 2,000 species of fishes in the archipelago represent more than 80
percent of all marine families of the Indo-Pacific region. Sailfish, three
species of marlin, sharks and migratory tuna are common in the deeper
waters off the continental shelf. Marine mammals are also abundant.
Spinner, bottlenose, common and humpback dolphins are common.
Residents whales include minke and right, and from September to
November, humpback whales pass the islands on their annual migration
to Madagascar. Green loggerhead and leatherback turtles nest on the
sandy shores.
Dugongs are the islands' most threatened inhabitants. And their numbers
seem to be decreasing rapidly, primarily as a result of entanglement in
gill nets used in nearby fisheries. These slow-moving relatives to the
manatee are verging on extinction in the Indo-Pacific and the Persian Gulf
regions. The approximately 110 animals that graze on sea grasses along
Bazaruto's islands are thought to be the last viable population on the
entire east coast of Africa.
The Challenges
When WWF first arrived on the scene, Mozambique's decades-long civil
war raged, surging the islands' population to more than double its size
with civilians from the mainland in search of security. Refugees
cultivated the islands using slash-and-burn methods, and introduced
sheep and goats which further destroyed natural vegetation. A 1992
peace accord and good rains encouraged many mainlanders to return
home and the population now hovers at around 2,700, but the illegal
and/or unsustainable practices are firmly entrenched.
At the outset of WWF's involvement, Bazaruto was also fast becoming a
hotspot for "eco" adventurers eager for more remote destinations--a
burgeoning resort industry and commensurate development was in the
offing. Local fishers who for several centuries had trolled the seas
using traditional methods were adopting more modern, damaging
methods including gill nets, which are virtually impossible to monitor or
prevent without legislation.
Today, huge commercial fishing trawlers and long-liners pass through
the area and take enormous quantities of fish. Their nets also tangle and
kill the endangered dugongs and turtles. Semi-industrial fishers catch
resident fish from the reefs; others spear huge quantities of reef fish;
while yet others come to collect or buy sea cucumbers to sell to Asian
markets.
The Solutions: For the People, By the People
The approach in Bazaruto is people based. Local communities, totally
dependent on artisanal activities and the surrounding seas to provide
daily food requirements and basic needs, are the key to success--and
are the primary benefactors of conservation. Today conservation in
Bazaruto is:
- Working to protect archipelago resources through sustainable
use by island communities
- Providing fishers with new nets of legal mesh size via a
conservation project credit scheme which swaps old nets for new,
less damaging nets
- Giving boat builders better tools for boat construction and
maintenance in exchange for carpentry work in local schools
- Teaching groups how to manage and protect their marine
resources from outsiders
- Giving women, the farmers in these communities, better seed
varieties and assistance for improving soils, in exchange for limiting the
size of their fields
- Channelling tourist levies to the communities who decide
themselves how the money should be spent: for buying blankets and
maize meal, and for schools and health clinics
- Providing assistance with schooling and health services,
including a new school and environmental programmes.
Parque Nacional do Bazaruto Arquipealgo
How will declaring the islands as a National Park add to the conservation
already taking place? It will provide the legislative basis to curb or
eliminate detrimental fishing practices, and to manage the Park
collectively. Park status will also ensure the archipelago retains its
natural beauty and attraction as an exclusive tourist destination, and its
natural resources on which the people of Bazaruto depend.
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