Blue Ventures Conservation Report Garth Cripps Understanding migration amongst the traditional fishers of West Madagascar 309A/B Aberdeen Studios, 22-24 Highbury Grove, London N5 2EA, UK. [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 7359 1287 Fax: +44 (0)800 066 4032 Blue Ventures Conservation Report Submitted in fulfilment of ReCoMap service contract PE2/014/2008 © ReCoMap & Blue Ventures 2009. Copyright in this publication and in all text, data and images contained herein, except as otherwise indicated, rests with Blue Ventures. Keywords: Fishers, poverty, migration, Madagascar. Acknowledgements: This study was undertaken as a short consultancy for ReCoMap (service contract PE2/014/2008). I would like to thank all Blue Ventures staff who helped – particularly Abdul, Bravo Haja, Fav and Sahid – and the migrants who participated in the study. Recommended citation: Cripps, G. (2009) Understanding migration amongst the traditional fishers of West Madagascar. Blue Ventures Conservation Report for ReCoMaP. 2 Blue Ventures Conservation Report Table of Contents List of figures ............................................................................................................................................................ 6 List of tables ............................................................................................................................................................. 7 Abbreviations and Acronyms ................................................................................................................................... 9 Glossary .................................................................................................................................................................. 10 1. Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 12 Socioeconomic conditions of Malagasy coastal fishing communities ................................................................... 12 Migration drivers .................................................................................................................................................... 12 Migration patterns ................................................................................................................................................. 13 Migration dynamics ................................................................................................................................................ 14 Migrant fishing activities ........................................................................................................................................ 14 Management measures and conflicts .................................................................................................................... 14 Socio-economic importance................................................................................................................................... 16 2. Literature review ................................................................................................................................... 17 2.1 South West Madagascar ............................................................................................................................ 17 2.1.1 Vezo ...................................................................................................................................................................... 17 2.1.2 Sara ....................................................................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.3 Traditional governance and migrants ................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.4 Traditional fisher migration in South West Madagascar ...................................................................................... 19 2.1.5 Ampasilava ........................................................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.6 Ambohibola .......................................................................................................................................................... 21 2.1.7 Multiple migrations to the coastal villages of South West Madagascar .............................................................. 22 2.2 North West Madagascar ............................................................................................................................ 25 3. Socioeconomic conditions of Malagasy coastal fishing communities ....................................................... 27 3.1 Characteristics of coastal poverty .............................................................................................................. 27 3.2 Household characteristics of poverty ........................................................................................................ 28 3.3 Malagasy fishing communities ................................................................................................................... 28 3.3.1 Demographics ....................................................................................................................................................... 30 3.3.2 Education .............................................................................................................................................................. 30 3.3.3 Social infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................. 31 3.3.4 Physical isolation .................................................................................................................................................. 32 3.3.5 Reliance on open-access resources ...................................................................................................................... 32 3.3.6 Immigration .......................................................................................................................................................... 33 3.3.7 Natural resource degradation .............................................................................................................................. 34 3.4 Summary of the socio-economic conditions of fishing communities ........................................................ 35 4. Traditional fisher migration routes ......................................................................................................... 37 4.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................................... 37 3 Blue Ventures Conservation Report 4.2 South West and West Madagascar ............................................................................................................ 41 4.2.1 South of Tulear ..................................................................................................................................................... 41 4.2.2 Tulear and Manombe ........................................................................................................................................... 43 4.2.3 Befandefa ............................................................................................................................................................. 45 4.2.4 Morombe .............................................................................................................................................................. 46 4.2.5 Andranopasy and Belo-sur-mer............................................................................................................................ 48 4.2.6 Morondave and Maintirano ................................................................................................................................. 50 4.2.7 Barren Isles and Nosy Vao .................................................................................................................................... 51 4.3 North West Madagascar ............................................................................................................................ 54 5. Traditional fisher migration in South West Madagascar .......................................................................... 56 5.1 Characteristics ............................................................................................................................................ 56 5.2 Basic demographics .................................................................................................................................... 57 5.3 Temporal trends ......................................................................................................................................... 61 5.4 Fishing targets and gear of migrants .......................................................................................................... 65 5.4.1 Vessels .................................................................................................................................................................. 65 5.4.2 Shark ..................................................................................................................................................................... 65 5.4.2.1 Palangre ...............................................................................................................................................