Save the Seahorses of Mozambique

In February, 11 "community rangers" were selected by Mangalisse and Chicocane village fisheries committees to monitor the community reserve that we are rolling out together to protect seahorses. The rangers were trained in enforcement methods by the local chief of the Fisheries Department.

The main message is that a no fishing reserve not only protects biodiversity but also increases fish stock by providing fish with an area where they can reproduce and grow bigger. The "win-win" advantages of the reserve for marine life and coastal populations empower rangers to enforce the rules with troublesome neighbors who might, out of a lack of understanding, be inclined to enter and exploit the reserve.

Next we look forward to setting out the buoys to demarcate and launcg the reserve! 

A year ago, we launched this campaign to bring seahorse protection to the community level - to have neighbors themselves regulating and enforcing anti-poaching policies sustainably. We did not anticipate how long it would take to get all of the stakeholders on board. But we are happy to announce that we are making headway and in recent months the project expanded to Chicocane Village (another hotspot for seahorse poaching just south of Mangalisse). It was hard to get the fisherpeople to a meeting because they are always out on the water fishing for survival. But we eventually succeeded in getting them to several meetings and we peaked their interest in establishing a commitee and select local "rangers" for training. So we are now primed to train and equip local rangers from the two villages (Mangalisse and Chicocane) to protect the seahorses from poaching and to improve the sustainability of the marine based resources they live from.