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Book (series)A preliminary value chain analysis of shark fisheries in Madagascar 2014
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No results found.Madagascar’s extensive (~6,500 km) coastline comprises the most diverse and extensive shallow marine habitats in the Western Indian Ocean, supporting an estimated 123 shark and ray species. Sharks have featured in Madagascar’s fisheries for at least 100 years, with exports recorded as early as the 1920’s. Globally, shark fins are one of the most highly valued seafood items and represent a critical and significant source of cash for some of Madagascar’s isolated fishing communities. The global sh ark fin trade is estimated to be worth between US$400-500 million a year. Increases in the shark trade over the last two decades is closely linked to economic growth in China, where the market is concentrated, and the ripple effects of this increase in demand have been felt worldwide. Scientific estimates for the number of sharks killed annually can be up to 100 million individuals and sharks are on the whole overexploited. Today, thirty percent of all shark and ray species are now classified as ‘Threatened’ or ‘Near Threatened’ with extinction according to the IUCN Red List, although this number is likely to be higher given that the status of almost half (47%) of shark species cannot be scientifically assessed due to a lack of data. There is strong evidence that shark overexploitation occurs in Malagasy waters and that shark populations in the area are declining rapidly. Although reliable figures on Madagascar’s domestic shark fishery are sparse, anecdotal observations report declines in shark numbers within the last two decades. According to national studies based only on official export data, recorded shark fin exports stood at approximately 32 tonnes in 2010, a decrease from 65 tonnes in 1994. Lack of data on catches, particularly from artisanal fisheries, bycatch by licensed industrial vessels, and by illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing by foreign industrial vessels, means these official export figures are likely to be gross underestimates of the actual pro duction. Madagascar’s shark fishery is comprised of three main fisheries according to Malagasy legislation: artisanal, traditional and industrial fisheries. Madagascar’s artisanal and traditional shark fisheries extend along the entire west coast, with the most important traditional fisheries along the southwest coast. Overfishing has led to fisher migration, spreading the fishery along the entire west coast and also much of the north. There is no established traditional shark fishery along the east coast due to adverse sea conditions, whilst the south is the least developed of all sites surveyed for this report. Throughout the country, surveyed fishers report catching shark for the purposes of income from selling fins (88%) and meat (77%), and as a source of food (31%), demonstrating the important link to the international shark fin trade. Shark fin exports reach the international market mostly through two principal buyers and exporters, namely the Sea Reine and Sin Hing, Chinese comp anies based in Antananarivo. The supply chain for shark fins is both complex and rather fluid with fishers selling either fresh (wet) or dried fins to collectors and fins graded in value according to size and quality. Some fishers bypass the local collectors and sell dried fins directly to main buyers in larger towns to obtain a better price, which can be a mark-up of 40% for high quality fins. The value of shark fins during the study period (2012) varies according to their condition (wet or dri ed), quality (four recognised grades) and their position in the supply chain. Robust data was collected for the first two levels of the supply chain but was lacking for the higher levels (main buyer to exporter). Guitarfish fins were on the whole, twice as valuable as shark fins and therefore both in demand and a fishing target. Since 2012 the average value of shark fins has dropped. Trade in shark meat is also well establishedin Madagascar, with meat sold into a supply chain that serves mainly local and national (provincial) markets but can also be exported to the Comoros. Shark meat does not fetch a high price compared to other fish or meats but can be an important supplementary source of income or nutrition in some cases. Generally fresh meat is sold and consumed locally whilst dried salted meat is bought by collectors and transported to inland urban markets in Madagascar. Some dried shark meat is also exported. ANGAP Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protégées ASH Aut orité Sanitaire Halieutique BAD Banque Africaine de Dévelopement CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CCPS Cellule de la Coordination de la Politique Sectorielle/MPRH CLB/VOI Communauté Locale de Base/Vondron’Olona Ifatony CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora COI Commission de l’océan Indien COS Certificat d’Origine et de Salubrité CSP Centre de Surveillance des Pêches CMS Convention on Migratory Species DGRH Direction de la Gestion des Ressourc es Halieutiques/MPRH DPRH Direction de la Pêche et des Ressources Halieutiques/MPRH DRPR Direction Régionale de la Pêche et des Ressources Halieutiques FAO Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations RFMO Regional Fishery Management Organization GEF Global Environnement Facility GTZ Gesellschaft Für Technische Zusammenarbeit IPOA Sharks – International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks IOTC Indian Ocean Tuna Commission IUU Illegal, Unregulated and Unreport ed JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency, Agence Japonaise de Coopération Internationale MAEP Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Elevage et de la Pêche MGA Malgasy Ariary MNP Madagascar National Parks (previously ANGAP) MPRH Ministère de la Pêche et des Ressources Halieutiques NGO Non Governmental Organisations SWIOFP/OISO South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project, Programme de l’Océan Indien Sud- Occidental UNGA United Nations General Assembly WIO Western Indian Ocean WWF World Wild Fund fo r Nature 6 A preliminary value chain analysis of shark fisheries in Madagascar 7 8 A preliminary value chain analysis of shark fisheries in Madagascar Foreign commercial fishing fleets have also been prevalent in Malagasy waters since at least the 1980’s and primarily target shark and larger pelagic fish, with significant shark bycatch for those fisheries not directly targeting sharks. Almost none of the sharks caught are landed in Madagascar. IUU fishing within Madagascar’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a well-established issue, with the shark fishery specifically targeted by both licensed and unlicenced vessels. Despite the significant pressures on Madagascar’s shark fishery and the enormous socio-ecological and economic value of the trade, the country has no coherent or functioning shark conservation strategy or legislation. The lack of a national strategy is largely due to deficiencies in data on fishing effort, catches, landings and discards in all commercial fisheries for sh ark. This is compounded by a paucity of information on shark ecology, fisheries status and the socioeconomic value of the trade throughout Madagascar. Furthermore, in isolated coastal areas with little infrastructure, the sale of high value dried shark fins has been one of the few ways local Malagasy fishermen can earn cash. In this context, the diverse and unconnected stakeholders have no basis or motivation to enact meaningful conservation measures, particularly when economic imperatives outwe igh any other consideration. In a country as poor as Madagascar, even minor poverty relief is important, leading fishers to continue shark fishing despite low catches and diminishing returns for fishing effort, further threatening the future of the fishery. There is an urgent need to actively and aggressively manage Madagascar’s shark fishery. The rapid decline of sharks is likely to have several negative socioeconomic and ecological impacts, including the loss of livelihoods and protein for tho se people who rely on them and potentially altering the trophic structure of marine and coastal ecosystems. However, putting in place conservation measures and enforcing regulations remains a formidable challenge. Much of Madagascar’s fishery takes place in remote fishing grounds scattered over thousands of kilometres of coastline; the fishers are highly mobile and move great distances to seek productive fishing grounds; the government lacks the means to monitor these fisheries and enforce regul ations; and the markets are informal and closed. Significant steps must be taken in order to effectively prevent the collapse of Madagascar’s shark fishery. A widespread campaign to regulate both international and local shark fishing must occur simultaneously for any significant positive change to occur. For this to take place scientifically robust data must be collected over the long term. For any national conservation strategies to be implemented effectively, they should be based on data colle cted through participative monitoring and implemented at the national level. Such strategies should apply to artisanal and traditional fisheries, as well as to international commercial fishing vessels operating within the EEZ. Madagascar’s existing locally-managed marine areas are a vehicle through which coastal shark management strategies could be implemented. However an increase in both technical and logistical capacity will be required for effective management at the local, regional and natio nal level, together with strong enforcement support to LMMAs. Although it is recommended that the government develops appropriate national legislation and put in place proper monitoring and export restrictions, the onus remains heavily on the international community, with global legislation driving the regulation or lack of regulation of the global shark trade. Particular attention needs to be paid to those countries with distant water fleets / vessels operating within Madagascar’s EEZ, both leg ally and illegally. Without proper regulation of their shark fishing effort, partly through RFMO’s, little progress can be made. -
DocumentA Practical Approach on Creating a Restricted Ontology for Crop Wild Relatives
CWR ontology. Project report
2007Also available in:
No results found.The task to identify a subset of about 400 terms highly relevant to crop wild relatives was performed as a continuation to an earlier project where a set of about 11400 term was extracted from on-line sources. Terms with high relevance were grouped into themes, roughly corresponding to Agrovoc (top level) categories, or indicatives of the thematic sources from which the terms were collected (biological, geographical on-line dictionaries etc), with an attempt to balance the number of terms betw een the groups. For the import into the ontology structure the themes were converted to namespaces in order to preserve the grouping and allow manipulation within ontology client programs on terms based on namespace grouping. Before the import the namespaces were slightly modified and adapted to some other existing ontologies. In addition to selecting relevant terms and definitions, definition of vertical and horizontal relationships between the terms was performed. Terms were also linked to s ources (uris) through Dublin Core extensions of the ontology structure. The export from sql to rdf/owl was done with a script written in Perl that extracted the terms, descriptions, sources from the database, plus vertical hierarchy, term synonyms and other variants, as well as some simple horizontal relationships and produced an import file for Protégé in rdf/owl format. The resulting subset of terms was provided as a number of files; a main file containing core structure, object and da ta type definitions and term data in separate files per namespace, suitable for import by an ontology client program such as Protégé. -
DocumentPlan of Action for Southern Sudan. Emergency response and rehabilitation for food and agriculture August 2010 – August 2012 2010
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No results found.Food insecurity and poverty are widespread across Southern Sudan, linked to decades of civil conflict, the disruption and loss of economic activities, displacement of a significant portion of the population, lack of basic infrastructure and the erosion of livelihood options. Southern Sudan faces one of the worst humanitarian and food-security situations in the world, with at least 1.5 million people relying on external assistance to meet their food needs. Traditional livelihood systems are root ed in the agriculture sector, employing a mix of livestock and crop production, fishing, wild food collection and trade. With about 80 percent of the population relying on agricultural production to meet their food and income needs, the role of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – the United Nations agency with the mandate for agriculture and rural development – is critical in strengthening the agriculture sector and contributing to wider peacebuilding efforts. In this Plan of Action (PoA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) outlines its emergency and rehabilitation programme for Southern Sudan in 2010–12. It does not include FAO’s long-term development programme, but is designed to complement the Organization’s ongoing development activities, as well as the interventions of United Nations agencies, Government and other partners which aim to mitigate the effects of recurrent crises while addressing their root causes. The ov erall purpose of the PoA is to improve preparedness and to make short-term responses in food and agriculture more effective. The programme relies heavily on a disaster risk management approach to the complex situation in Southern Sudan. This approach focuses on emergency relief, such as replacing lost assets or restoring livelihoods, as well as on early efforts as part of risk reduction that protect and sustain livelihoods. Such interventions can often be more effective than those delayed until people are in crisis. Given the complex and protracted nature of the crisis in Southern Sudan, FAO’s relief and recovery programming is enhanced by interventions that not only restore, but also protect and promote livelihoods in food and agriculture. The proposed priorities in this PoA will help FAO, its counterparts and partners to meet short-term needs in ways that strengthen the resilience of communities and lead to more effective and longer-term recovery. The three key areas of focus propose d in this PoA are based on an analysis of the current situation and of the main factors triggering food insecurity and assessments identifying and targeting vulnerable groups. These are: (i) improving food production; (ii) improving food accessibility; and (iii) improving agricultural productivity. These priorities have been expanded into fourteen sectoral programmes that detail the activities to be implemented by FAO in Southern Sudan to achieve the expected outcomes and address the specific ne eds identified in the five priority states of Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, Upper Nile and Warrap. The total budget for the PoA 2010–12 is USD 67 821 864.
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