Since 1998, CFFA-CAPE and its partners have conducted several campaigns to raise awareness on the effects of European fishing in Malagasy waters, as well as to improve the working conditions of Malagasy seamen on board European vessels. Several recommendations have been made to improve fisheries relations between the EU and Madagascar. Although the importance of traditional fisheries was highlighted, overall, sectoral support was allocated to the development of industrial fisheries and shrimp aquaculture.
Two decades later, CAPE-CFFA publishes a state of play of small-scale fisheries in Madagascar, by Cécile Fattebert. The author highlights the enormous needs of traditional fishing, as well as the urgent problems of food security and stock depletion, but also proposes that improved resource management and aid present excellent opportunities for local development.
Cecile Fattebert
Worked for an environmental organisation for four years (2014-2019) with traditional fishing communities in Maintirano, Madagascar, to help them implement local governance mechanisms in the Maritime Protected Area of Barren Islands.
In this article, CFFA highlights the Indian Ocean archipelago’s small-scale sector’s concerns and demands in light of the ongoing negotiations for the new EU-Sechelles Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) protocol.