International Programs:
Antongil Bay Fisheries Initiative
Beginning in August 2000, Phaedra Doukakis at the Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS) established the Antongil Bay Fisheries Initiative in eastern
Madagascar.
Madagascar - Antonguil Bay is on the North-Eastern side of the Island (circled in Red)
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Phaedra Doukakis on top of the Malagasy Canopy
Picture by Phaedra Doukakis
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This initiative aims to monitor and sustainably manage the use of this
important yet heavily exploited marine ecosystem. By involving local
fishermen as collectors, WCS is working to understand the diversity of
fishes in the bay in order to create an appropriate management strategy.
Part of this program is focused on monitoring the shark fishery, which is
driven by the shark fin soup industry. In order to understand the impact of
this fishery on local shark populations a DNA based monitoring system is
used to accurately identify shark species. Field research has also been
undertaken in order to map and physically characterize the fishing grounds
in the Bay.
Phaedra Doukakis on a fisherman's boat, ready to take a fin-clip of the "catch of the day"
Picture by Phaedra Doukakis.
Coupled with accurate species identification, this will allow eventual
identification of critical fisheries habitat for different shark species
and this information will then be used to identify candidate areas for
establishing new marine protected area.
Shark fishing/distribution map created on the basis of Phaedra's data
Antongil Bay Map by Peter J. Ersts
The Antongil Bay shark specimens are sent to the Ambrose Monell
Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research at the American Museum of
Natural History (AMNH). Archiving tissue samples allows for subsequent
multipurpose genetic assays to be done on the material without duplicating
unnecessary collecting effort. When the long-term use of such a resource is
undefined, then a good archival paradigm is that "colder is better". Thus
the samples, originally collected in ethanol, are transferred into
bar-coded 1.8ml cryo-vials at AMNH where they are archived at cryogenic
temperatures (below -150* C) in liquid Nitrogen cooled freezers. The
specimens are frequently accompanied by digital files and photographs. Such
information, in addition to GenBank accession numbers and bibliographic
citations, is archived and then cross-referenced with the appropriate
tissue specimen(s) in the collection.
(Text revised by Phaedra Doukakis)
E-Voucher of one of the shark which fin clip sampled by Phaedra is now in holdings at the AMCC.
The shark itself was ultimately consumed by the natives
Picture by Phaedra Doukakis
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