Shark news - Shark Sanctuary Created in Madagascar!

The Government of Madagascar have created their first ever shark sanctuary in Antongil Bay, North West Madagascar. Covering 3,750km² of ocean, the Order has been put in place after lengthy consultation with fisheries, community fishermen, local authorities and NGOs and will protect this extremely rich area of biodiversity.

The area of the shark sanctuary. Image from Mongabay

The Order aims to empower village communities to manage their fishing activity, whilst ensuring that any exploitation of the fisheries resource is carried out sustainably and has three main objectives:

1) The preservation of the environment to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem
2) The establishment of a sustainable fishing resource to improve the living standards of coastal populations in general and fishermen in particular, and
3) More equitable distribution of wealth created by fisheries by enhancing the part of the local population against the interests of the municipal economy, regionally and nationally

Whilst sustainable fishing is encouraged within the sanctuary, shark fishing has been entirely banned. 19 species of shark are found in Antongil Bay of which over a third are threatened with extinction.

The announcement was made jointly with the Wildlife Conservation Society (English) and the Ministry of Marine Resources and Fisheries Madagascar (French)