Living Blue Planet Report page 58
Catching less to catch more
Along the coast of Mozambique, local fishers are seeing
the benefits of no-take zones and MPAs.Primera e Segundas is a chain of 10 pristine coral islands
stretching 150km along the coast of northern Mozambique. It’s
one of the most important places for sea turtle reproduction in
the western Indian Ocean, as well as home to migrating whales,
dolphins and seabirds. The area is also crucial for Mozambique’s
economy, and part of the world’s largest wild prawn fishery.
However, this globally important marine environment
has been pushed to the point of collapse through industrial and
artisanal overfishing, compounded by the increasing impacts of
climate change. In the city of Moma, which has a population of
around 300,000, four out of five people eat fish daily, and in over
half the households at least one man or boy actively fishes. Many
of the more than 15,000 fishermen use harmful practices, like
using mosquito nets which catch even the smallest fish.
WWF and CARE are working with poor communities in
the region to support development and conservation. In 2010,
the CARE-WWF Alliance helped set up two no-take zones,
where no fishing is allowed. Local communities are closely
involved in managing and monitoring these sanctuaries, and are
already seeing the benefits as the number and diversity of fish
has increased dramatically. After four years, the biomass caught
in surveys within the sanctuaries was 50.761kg compared to
4.454kg for the same area outside, and there were three to four
times as many species (Mualeque, 2014). This leads to increased
catches for local fishers as these fish spread to other areas. As
a result of these positive effects, the Mozambique Fisheries
Research Institute has recommended that no-take zones be
established in other parts of the country.After four years, there
were three to four
times as many species
within the sanctuaries+300%