Nine nations, one ocean: A benchmark appraisal of the South Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (2008–2012)

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Abstract

Coastal and island states of the Western Indian Ocean lack scientific and management capacity to draw sustainable benefits from their Exclusive Economic Zones. Declining ecosystem services and unregulated fishing has prompted nine riparian countries to develop a regional framework for capacity building and scientific development towards collective management of shared resources. Supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Agulhas and Somali Currents large marine ecosystems programme consists of three inter-related modules, supported by different agencies: land-based impacts on the marine environment (UNEP); productivity, ecosystem health and nearshore fisheries (UNDP) and transboundary shared and migrating fisheries resources (World Bank). The latter is the South Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP), a 5-year joint data gathering and fisheries assessment initiative. SWIOFP is a prelude to long-term cooperative fisheries management in partnership with the newly established FAO–South Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC). We describe the development of SWIOFP as a model of participatory regional scientific cooperation and collective ocean management.

Introduction

The South Western Indian Ocean (SWIO) supports a multitude of traditional (artisanal) and industrialized (commercial) fisheries, many of which are unregulated [1], [2]. These fisheries are critically important to coastal communities, where fish may represent the primary source of animal protein available to them. The countries also suffer from scarcities of foreign exchange, and export of their fishery products, or income from licensing fees of fisheries, contribute to economic development. Population trends indicate a doubling of human populations over the past 27 years in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and over the last decade the human development index (HDI) of all developing regions of the world has increased, except in SSA where 12 African countries have seen a HDI reversal [3]. The challenges faced by SSA governments to meet the demands and expectations of their people are enormous. One of these challenges is to sustainably develop the use of available marine resources to their greatest potential, while maintaining the ecosystems within which they live.

Several countries in the region (Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, Comoros) presently lack the capacity to adequately assess or develop their marine resources, and hence cannot sustainably draw benefits from them. Threats to their marine environments include overexploitation of fish populations, the ecological cost of high levels of bycatch and incidental mortality of discarded fish, fishery-induced impacts and the degradation and pollution of habitats as a result of human activity. The relationships between ecosystem services, fisheries, biodiversity and the environmental impacts of fisheries are also largely unknown, although these have become major global research themes [4], [5], [6], [7]. These relationships are also increasingly acknowledged in a socio-political context, as reflected in the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) [8], and the Abuja declaration on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in Africa made by 26 African heads of state under the New Partnership for Africa's Development [9].

Climate change and natural environmental perturbations also affect productivity levels, and thus fisheries yields. An ecosystem-based approach, or understanding of the environment from which a target species is extracted, can help to more fully identify direct risks of resource depletion and the indirect impacts of resource use on ”non-target” species within the ecosystem. This approach is supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through its International Waters and Biodiversity focal areas, and requires regional cooperation among countries that share resources within a large marine ecosystem.

Many studies on fisheries, human impacts on the environment, and marine ecosystems have been undertaken in the SWIO region, but only in the past decade have there been attempts to integrate these into frameworks needed to link science to management structures and governance [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16].

In pursuit of this objective, the South Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP) has been developed over the past five years (2000–2005), by government scientists from nine SWIO countries. Supported by the World Bank, SWIOFP focuses on transboundary fisheries resources, including migratory fish and straddling stocks. It aims to establish a regional framework for data gathering and capacity building towards harmonized and scientifically-based regional strategies to manage shared stocks, while conserving biodiversity. The SWIOFP1 is one of three closely linked projects, which together form the basis for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Large Marine Ecosystem Programme in the western Indian Ocean. The other two projects are the Agulhas and Somali Currents LME (ASCLME), prepared and executed by the UNDP, and WIO-LaB,2 addressing land-based impacts on the marine environment, and implemented through the UNEP in Nairobi.

We describe the SWIOFP preparation phase as a model of participatory regional scientific cooperation. The marine resources to be studied are introduced, and the organizational structures and research approach for the period 2008–2012 are shown. The inter-relationships between the three projects that make up the Agulhas and Somali Currents LME programme are illustrated. Our paper is a concise summary of the unpublished World Bank project document [17], including a risk assessment and performance benchmarks.

Section snippets

Geographical scope and oceanographic features

The SWIOFP project area is located in the Agulhas and Somali Currents LMEs, and includes the maritime zones of South Africa (eastern coast only), Mozambique, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros and France (by virtue of its islands including Mayotte and Reunion) (Fig. 1). Somalia has observer status. Within this region, SWIOFP is confined to continental shelf regions of the 200 n.m. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the participating countries. The

Known fisheries resources

The WIO is a distinct biogeographical province of the Indo-West Pacific, with high levels of regional endemism around island states and at locations along the continent [19], [20]. It has high species diversity, with at least 2200 fish species recorded, some 15% of known marine fishes [21]. Despite this, the ichthyofauna remains poorly understood, and few countries in the region have national collections [1]. Only a fraction of the 1051 species listed as relevant to the region's fisheries [22]

Preparation phase

A strategy for sustainably developing shared SWIO marine resources was first discussed at a meeting held in Mozambique in 2000 (funded by a GEF-PDF-A grant). In January 2002, the International Development Association (IDA), representing GEF, signed an agreement with the Mozambican government to coordinate the preparation of a project brief in a collaborative and transparent country-driven process (funded by a GEF-PDF-B grant). Participant countries assumed responsibility for key portfolios,

Risk assessment

There have been previous initiatives to better integrate regional management of fisheries in the region, including the Indo-Pacific Fisheries Commission (est. 1948), the Indian Ocean Fishery Commission (est. 1967), the Southwest Indian Ocean Project (SWIOP) and the West Indian Ocean Tuna Organization (est. 1991) [37], [38]. All have contributed to generating valuable information, but few succeeded in implementing successful transboundary management in the WIO. The members are under no illusion

Integration of SWIOFP, ASCLME and WIO-Lab as a programmatic approach

A programmatic approach, in which three GEF agencies (UNDP, UNEP, and World Bank) from the outset participate in different interlinked modules of an LME programme has not been tried before. The rationale for this collective involvement reflects prior experiences with similar LME activities elsewhere. Single GEF Implementing Agencies have struggled to concurrently lead processes to identify transboundary resources, assist nations to develop harmonized strategies, and provide long-term support to

Conclusions

SWIOFP provides a framework for nine countries sharing the resources of the Agulhas and Somali Currents LME to develop a regional ecosystem-based fisheries data collection system and strengthen management capacity. It provides an opportunity to explore known and potential biological resources of a relatively unknown ocean. It supports capacity building (scientific, technical, governance, infrastructure), and will contribute significantly to attaining the WSSD goals of environmentally

Acknowledgments

Many scientists, fisheries managers and consultants from the nine SWIOFP countries and elsewhere participated in the development of the project brief, and it is unfortunate that they cannot all be included as co-authors here. In particular we would like to thank Jerome Bourjea (France), Jan Robinson, Riaz Aumeeruddy and Rondolph Payet (Seychelles), Dave Japp, Andy Cockcroft, Johann Augustyn and Marius Diemont (South Africa), Nilza Dias and Lizette Palha de Sousa (Mozambique), Philip Bwathondi,

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