WCS Freshwater Fish Conservation

Launched in 1993, this program initially sought to collect live specimens of five threatened endemic fish with the goal of establishing secure managed populations as insurance against their global extinction. It is fortunate that this intervention achieved its objective, for the conservation status of four of the five target species has since been downgraded to "critically endangered" and the fifth is now extinct in nature. Ongoing exploration has more than doubled the size of Madagascar’s freshwater fish fauna and identified areas that still support aquatic communities dominated by indigenous species. While captive breeding programs will continue to play a critical role in saving the island’s endemic fishes, it is now realistic to envisage a more active in situ component to this conservation effort, to which WCS is uniquely well positioned to contribute.

The Human Aspect

Fish, both fresh and dried, is a significant component in the diet of the Malagasy people. Freshwater fisheries play an important role in the economy of the Red Island. Even finger-sized rainbow-fishes and killies are the objects of a traditional basket fishery undertaken by village women. The collapse of stocks of native fish of the cichlid family is due to environmental degradation, mismanagement and the introduction of deleterious exotic species This has had a devastating impact upon fishing communities and the consumers who relied upon their catch. There is strong grass-roots support for the re-introduction of locally extirpated species. However due to the absence of local management to limit either access to a given body of water or define and proscribe particular types of fishing gear, this option was not originally viewed as viable.

Threats

The survival of Madagascar’s endemic freshwater fishes is threatened by environmental degradation, over-exploitation and invasive exotic species. The loss of forest cover profoundly alters the basic hydrological regime of rivers, changing them from persistent to intermittent. The extirpation of their freshwater fish fauna inevitably follows.

WCS Activities

WCS acts through direct action in the field, collaboration with in-country partners and provision of technical and advisory support to partner institutions working to conserve Malagasy freshwater fishes and their habitats.

The Freshwater Fish Conservation Program is built around the following themes:

• Ichthyological surveys of Madagascar’s inland waters;
• Establishing managed ex situ populations of endangered freshwater fish species;
  Defining priorities areas for in situ conservation efforts and advocating for their incorporation into the existing network of protected areas;
• Collaborating with local partners in the development of an effective management plan for the island’s native freshwater fishes based upon the empowerment of local communities to manage their aquatic resources, and
• Training and capacity building in basic ichthyological research, freshwater habitat conservation and inland fisheries management.

Important Next Steps

The Freshwater Fish Conservation Program is based upon WCS’s tradition science-based approach and seeks to play a key role in the development of a broadly accepted agenda for the conservation of Madagascar’s endemic inland ichthyofauna and the habitats essential to its survival. Next steps for the program are:

• Completion of the ongoing ichthyological survey of the island’s inland waters;
  Establishment of ex situ managed populations of every endemic freshwater fish species deemed to be at risk;
• Work with local partners to develop capacity for in situ captive breeding programs;
  Assist in developing a viable management plan for Madagascar’s freshwater ichthyofauna and work to promote its acceptance and implementation;
• Collaborate with MAEP, MEEF and ANGAP in the development of a management plan for the island of Nosy Be that effectively preserves the ecological integrity of the Mt. Passot crater lake complex and its associated ichthyofauna;
• Collaborate with local partners in efforts to slow the spread of the spotted snakehead;
  Continue ongoing efforts to develop local capacity in the areas of ichthyological research and freshwater fish conservation