Slowing the plunder of Madagascar's fish stocks

Image courtesy of Stoonn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The coastline of the world's fourth largest island is about 4,800km, providing it with an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of more than 1.2 million square kilometres, but the government has no capacity to patrol, police or monitor its vast maritime asset.

According to a 2011 study led by researchers from Canada's University of British Columbia, in collaboration with Blue Ventures, a Madagascar-based conservation organisation, fish catches in the country were double the official documented tally, with much of it caught by unregulated artisanal fishermen or foreign-registered fishing vessels.

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