Bio-diversity

Project Summary Coastal and marine habitats in Mauritius are under threat from a multitude of pressures including increasing coastal populations, coastal development, habitat destruction, greater tourism pressure and fishing pressure. These direct impacts have lead to habitat degradation and loss as well as reduced fish catches in these lagoons. From 2009 to 2011, Reef Conservation worked with fishers and other local coastal community stakeholders to facilitate the establishment of three Voluntary Marine Conservation Areas (VMCAs) in two North-eastern coastal villages of Roches Noires (RN) and Trou D Eau Douce (TDD). These voluntarily managed marine areas are the first to be agreed by coastal communities in Mauritius. These areas have no legal status but the relevant authorities such as the Ministry of Fisheries, government agencies and local government have all been part of the process through meetings and other actions. Voluntary conservation areas are selected sites in the lagoon where communities agree that no extractive or destructive activities will be done. The primary objective is to help marine life and biodiversity richness of these areas and the surrounding lagoon restore itself. The Roches Noires Voluntary Marine Conservation Area is well established with the support of the Voluntary Marine Conservation Area Committee. This is a dynamic willing group of 12 volunteers which includes fishers, members of the village council, trained Marine Ecoguides and community. To ensure the long term existence, management and success of the voluntary conservation site in Roches Noires, there is need for further understanding of the ecosystems and biodiversity within them. Additionally and just as important is the need for capacity building and training in the areas of ecosystem monitoring, resource use surveillance and sensitisation and outreach with community members. Reef Conservation will use the Roches Noires site as a further Pilot Study Site to develop and implement an ecosystem and resource use training and monitoring program for replication to other coastal villages in Mauritius. Further a feasibility study of new eco-tourism initiatives will be investigated for the future development and sustainability of the Voluntary Marine Conservation Area in Roches Noires. The results of this study may well lead to the creation of new income generating activities for the trained marine Ecoguides and community. The project also aims to transfer the process to other coastal villages. The Attitude Resorts Group has invested large amounts of money and interest in setting up a Marine Resource Centre and Laboratory at Marina Hotel in Anse la Raie. The hotel has also set up a network of environmental awareness ambassadors within their staff to help promote the project with the tourists, the hotel staff, and the neighbouring community. The next logical step in the programme is the setting up of one or a series of Voluntary Marine Conservation Areas in the lagoon of Anse La Raie with the experience and lessons learnt from Roches Noires. The establishment of voluntarily protected sites will inevitably increase the area of marine resources protected in the lagoons and can ultimately lead to a network of protected areas in Mauritius. The success of these Voluntary Marine Conservation Area sites can help further promote real community co management arrangements with local government for legally designated Marine Protected Areas and Marine Reserves. The Voluntary Marine Conservation Area Project falls into the SGP OP5 Immediate Objective 1 and the actions focus on community based biodiversity conservation, public awareness and community participation in conservation efforts whilst promoting eco-tourism initiatives. Project Location Roches Noires The project activities will be conducted in the North and North-eastern Lagoons of Mauritius. The main project activities would take place in the village of Roches Noires with outreach sensitization activities undertaken in the adjacent coastal villages of Poudre d Or and Poste La Fayette. The lagoon of Roches Noires is 5.97 km . The already identified Voluntary Marine Conservation Area in the lagoon of Roches Noires has a perimeter of 1.12 km and an area of 0.08 km (8 hectares) as indicated below. The Voluntary Marine Conservation Area site identified by the fishers of Roches Noires is the only area with between 70 80 % live coral cover. The main habitats found in the site are patch reefs and sea grass beds. A survey of the lagoon lead by Reef s Marine Biologist also identified this area as the most suitable for setting up the Voluntary Marine Conservation Area. Roches Noires is a rural village with a population of approximately 8000. Fishing is an activity practiced by most inhabitants although there are 55 registered fishers operating in the area described above. Presently there is no hotel tourism in the area but private and rental bungalows are located along the coast. Anse La Raie Anse La Raie lagoon is localised in the north of Mauritius between Cap Malheureux and Grand Gaube. The Lagoon of Anse La Raie is 5.22 km . Reef Conservation conducted a quick survey of the entire lagoon in 2010 to look at the existing ecosystems. After the analysis of data collected more detailed surveys have been conducted (2011) for the survey area indicated on the map. The survey area contains various ecosystems of seagrass beds, algae, and coral patch reefs and is one of the few areas with

Mauritius