Northern Marine Reserves (Riviere Banane, Anse aux Anglais, Grand Bassin, Passe Demi), Rodrigues Draft Management Plan 2011-2016 v1 1 Executive Summary [To be completed] 2 Northern Marine Reserves (Riviere Banane, Anse aux Anglais, Grand Bassin, Passe Demi), Rodrigues Draft Management Plan 2011-2016 v1 Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 2 2 Prologue .......................................................................................................................................... 6 3 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 7 4 Background ..................................................................................................................................... 8 4.1 Justification for the Marine Reserves ....................................................................................... 8 4.1.1 Where were we? ............................................................................................................... 8 4.1.2 Where are we? .................................................................................................................. 9 4.1.3 Where do we want to go? ................................................................................................. 9 4.1.4 What is the best way to do what we need to do? ............................................................. 9 4.2 History of the Marine Reserves ................................................................................................ 9 4.3 Preparation of the Management plan .................................................................................... 10 5 Vision for the Marine Reserves ..................................................................................................... 11 6 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 13 6.1.1 General Introduction Rodrigues ...................................................................................... 13 6.1.2 Name of Area and Location ............................................................................................. 14 6.1.3 Geographic and Habitat Classification ............................................................................ 16 6.1.4 Conservation Status ........................................................................................................ 17 6.1.5 Access and Jurisdiction .................................................................................................... 19 6.1.6 History ............................................................................................................................. 19 6.1.7 Socio-economics and Livelihoods .................................................................................... 20 6.1.8 Physical features ............................................................................................................. 25 6.1.9 Climate (all data available from Meteo) .......................................................................... 29 6.1.10 Biodiversity .................................................................................................................... 31 6.1.11 Biodiversity .................................................................................................................... 32 6.1.12 Legislation ..................................................................................................................... 35 3 Northern Marine Reserves (Riviere Banane, Anse aux Anglais, Grand Bassin, Passe Demi), Rodrigues Draft Management Plan 2011-2016 v1 7 Management Issues/Threats ......................................................................................................... 38 7.1 Common Issues ...................................................................................................................... 38 7.1.1 Overexploitation .............................................................................................................. 38 7.1.2 Habitat Damage and Destructive Fishing Techniques ..................................................... 39 7.1.3 Octopus Fishing ............................................................................................................... 39 7.1.4 Seine net fishing .............................................................................................................. 40 7.1.5 Basket trap fishing ........................................................................................................... 41 7.1.6 Sea cucumbers ................................................................................................................ 41 7.1.7 Coral ‘parc’ fishing .......................................................................................................... 42 7.1.8 Illegal fishing and lack of enforcement ............................................................................ 42 7.1.9 Bad weather allowance ................................................................................................... 43 7.1.10 Erosion ........................................................................................................................... 43 7.1.11 Climate Change and Natural Hazards ............................................................................ 43 7.1.12 Marine-based sources of pollution and litter ................................................................ 43 7.1.13 Land-based sources of pollution ................................................................................... 43 7.1.14 Infrastructure ................................................................................................................ 44 7.2 Specific Issues ......................................................................................................................... 44 7.2.1 Easy Access (Rivere Banane and Anse aux Anglais) ......................................................... 44 7.2.2 Difficult Access and Navigation (Grand Bassin and Passe Demi) ..................................... 44 7.2.3 Sand mining (Passe Demi) ............................................................................................... 44 7.2.4 Squid fishing (Rivere Banane and Anse aux Anglais) ....................................................... 44 7.2.5 Crevette fishing (Passe Demi) .......................................................................................... 44 7.3 Future Demand ...................................................................................................................... 45 7.3.1 Conversion of in-lagoon fishers to off-lagoon fishers ..................................................... 45 7.3.2 Port Extension ................................................................................................................. 45 7.3.3 Cruise ships ...................................................................................................................... 45 7.3.4 Mari-culture of algae ....................................................................................................... 45 4 Northern Marine Reserves (Riviere Banane, Anse aux Anglais, Grand Bassin, Passe Demi), Rodrigues Draft Management Plan 2011-2016 v1 7.3.5 Mari-culture of sea cucumbers ....................................................................................... 45 7.3.6 Closed season for octopus fishery ................................................................................... 45 7.3.7 Octopus pot fishery ......................................................................................................... 46 7.3.8 Proposal to increase the number of tourist visitors ........................................................ 46 7.3.9 Land based development ................................................................................................ 47 7.4 Conflicts .................................................................................................................................. 48 7.4.1 Current conflicts .............................................................................................................. 48 7.4.2 Future conflicts ................................................................................................................ 48 8 Management Strategies & Actions ................................................................................................ 50 8.1 Governance ............................................................................................................................ 50 8.2 Livelihoods .............................................................................................................................. 52 8.3 Biology & Conservation .......................................................................................................... 53 8.4 Emergencies ........................................................................................................................... 55 8.5 Sensitisation ........................................................................................................................... 56 9 Rules & Regulations ....................................................................................................................... 57 10 Evaluation and Assessment ........................................................................................................