Jeremy Hance
Source: mongabay.com
February 27, 2012

"With the government of Madagascar planning to increase marine protected areas by one million hectares, a group of researchers have laid out flexible recommendations in a new study in the open access journal PLoS ONE. The researchers employed four different analyses in order to highlight a number of different conservation options, however the different analyses pointed to the need to protect certain areas with high biodiversity, including the Barren Islands' reefs, the reefs of Juan de Nova, the Banc de Leven, and the shallow banks of the Cap Sainte Marie.

"Creation of protected areas is a key conservation strategy to safeguarding marine resources, but one size doesn't fit all. This study demonstrates the need for a comprehensive portfolio of management solutions from community based coastal fisheries to fully protected marine parks," Caleb McClennen, co-author and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Director for Marine Programs, said in a press release.

Currently, marine conservation is poor in Madagascar. The study notes that less than 1 percent of the nation's coral reefs are in no-take zones and there is only one marine protected area, Sahamalaza-Isles Radama. Among the most important marine sites the Barren Islands has already received some conservation attention, but other sites have so far been neglected by conservation efforts."

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