The reef fisheries surrounding the south‐west coastal cities of Madagascar

Abstract

The artisanal fishery in south‐west Madagascar, around the coastal cities of Morondava, Morombe and Tuléar, is particularly active. In the Morombe and Tuléar regions, fishing pressure focuses on coral formations close to landing sites and reef fish constitute the main part of the catch (Lethrinidae, Haemulidae, Siganidae). In Morondava, fishing is practised very close to the shore on sandy substrates, but also on offshore reef shallows. The catches are more diverse and made up of reef fish (Serranidae, Lutjanidae) and non‐reef species. Fishing from Morondava targets the highest trophic level of the coral reefs (piscivores/macroinvertebrate feeders: 87% of the catch) whereas in Tuléar and Morombe the higher fishing effort means that lower trophic levels are targeted to maintain catches. Despite the high fishing effort, especially around Morombe and Tuléar (standardizing fishing effort of 5200 hook h km–2 year–1 and of 12 300 hook h km–2 year–1, respectively), the catch per unit effort (CPUE) is still relatively high; it varies from 0.6 to 2 kg h‐1 per person over the whole zone and seems to be more linked to the fishing method used and to the degree of professionalism than to variations in the abundance of the resources surrounding the three cities. The relatively high CPUE can probably be explained by a continual immigration and/or recruitment on these fishing grounds. The fish originate from sectors that are far from towns and weakly exploited. A sociological study was carried out concurrently with the fishing survey and focused on present‐day transformations within the fishing community.