Mission Blue has declared the Inhambane Seascape a Hope Spot in recognition of the spatial planning work being done in the area to develop a network of marine protected areas (MPA) in the surrounding waters. Founded by legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, “Mission Blue is uniting a global coalition to inspire an upwelling of public awareness, access, and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas – Hope Spots.” Mission Blue acknowledges the Marine Megafauna Foundation and their partners’ work assisting the government of Mozambique as they strive to meet the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to formally protect 10% of its territorial waters by 2024, with the ultimate goal of protecting 30% of its marine resources by 2030.
Dr. Sylvia Earle says, “Mozambique as a country has already taken significant actions to safeguard the extraordinarily rich, highly important life along the coastline. Everything is on the line. There’s an opportunity now to significantly scale up and embrace those areas that are already protected with a larger area along the whole coast of Mozambique that connects the land with the ocean beyond. I particularly want to salute Andrea Marshall and her team with the Marine Megafauna Foundation—they work with so many large creatures that are so important and so threatened. This is the time to understand the true value of these creatures. Not just for their own good, which is enough, but for the benefit of people. We’re on the edge of losing them forever unless action is taken now.”
The coastline of the Inhambane Province in southern Mozambique is well-known around the world for its thriving biodiversity. The area is rated by the IUCN as a globally outstanding marine conservation area and acknowledged as a potential World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is a wild and expansive area that holds immense ecological value, extraordinary beauty, and incalculable natural heritage. For Dr. Andrea Marshall, local conservation biologist and Co-Founder of the Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF), it is her life mission to see the coastline comprehensively protected.
Marshall has spent 20 years in Mozambique and has dedicated her life to supporting the conservation of endangered marine megafauna species. “Our overarching goal is to use science to underpin the comprehensive management of the protected areas that currently exist and provide justification for the expansion of those areas and new adjoining areas along the coastline,” she explains.
A plethora of large iconic marine megafauna species live off of southern Mozambique. The Inhambane Seascape is described as an important region in Africa for creatures like manta rays, dugong, and critically endangered wedgefish species. Five species of sea turtles use provincial waters or nest along their shores and a number of rare and understudied species also inhabit coastal waters, particularly sharks and rays.
Unfortunately, substantial areas in both the northern and southern ends of the province remain unprotected and unmonitored. Recent increases in fishing pressure, both offshore industrial fishing and artisanal fishing along this coastline, in particular the relatively new use of gillnets and the increased use of seine nets and fish traps, have contributed to documented declines in sightings of manta rays, devil rays, whale sharks, wedgefish, sea turtles, and dugong. Indiscriminate fishing practices and the targeted fishing of apex predators, including sharks, brindle bass, and black marlin are impacting sensitive ecosystems in the region and populations of threatened megafauna that live and migrate to these waters to feed and reproduce.
“Our primary objective in the country is to safeguard the globally-significant marine megafauna populations that occur in the Inhambane Province by reducing their primary threats and supporting the development of a network of adjoining marine protected areas,” describes Dr. Marshall regarding MMF’s ongoing work. “These species are often the first to be impacted by human threats. Their populations can quickly crash and cannot be easily re-introduced once they are extirpated from a region. As conservation biologists, this process started 20 years ago with the collection of key ecological data and will end with the development of a well-managed seascape, which can offer the scale of protection needed by these at-risk ocean giants.”
The Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, in the north of the Province, was the first MPA in Mozambique. The Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary followed, providing an important buffer for the park and protecting a key estuary and mangrove system as well as reefs along the San Sebastian Peninsula. Now a new even larger area of protection is being developed off Pomene, in the center of the province, directly to the south of the existing protected areas. Other northern and eastern extensions of the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park and the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary are also being considered to respond to the needs of the threatened species these protected areas are charged with protecting. “It has become increasingly clear to us that the exceptional beauty, remarkable ecological diversity, and critical economic and environmental importance of this region has remained largely unrecognized at an international level. We are grateful and excited at the prospect of this Hope Spot and all that it will do to elevate the status of this jewel of the Western Indian Ocean,” says Taryn Gilroy, Manager of the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary.
To ensure the viability of long-term conservation efforts across the seascape, MMF is helping local MPA managers to design science-based strategies so that the needs of the at-risk species are addressed. But their efforts don’t stop there. “The species we study are rare and often endangered so we also integrate our results into regional and international strategies. Our data are often used to assess the conservation status of these threatened species globally on the IUCN Red List and intergovernmental treaties like the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES),” Marshall explains.
In 2020, MMF, their partners, and local stakeholders came together to voice opposition to a proposed oil and gas project near the National Park and a sand mining project near the Sanctuary. Both projects stalled and were not pursued. Marshall’s team believes that both projects would have had potentially catastrophic impacts on the local environment and on the sensitive species which rely on this coastal habitat. “These extractive industries are constant threats to the viability of the conservation work being done in the region. As a community we need to push back until this area is adequately protected and managed,” elaborates Marshall. MMF and its partners believe that the Hope Spot declaration can help provide the necessary attention that this region needs.
The region already bears all of the hallmarks of an iconic African destination and will surely become a major drawcard for tourism in Mozambique. “It is a beautiful and inspiring ecosystem. It represents everything that we as conservationists are trying to save in Africa. There are few places like it left on the planet, and it’s absolutely critical that this coastline is protected for future generations to experience,” describes Dr. Jen Guyton, conservation biologist and award-winning nature photographer, who has spent time in the area with Dr. Marshall’s team.
Dr. Marshall, her team, and their partners on the ground will continue to pioneer the exploration of this remote coastline and lobby for its formal protection: “The Inhambane Seascape is an area of incalculable importance. It’s the marine Serengeti of Africa. None of us will stop until it is properly safeguarded.”
About Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF)
The Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) was created in 2009 to research, protect, and conserve populations of threatened marine megafauna around the world. ‘Megafauna’ are large iconic marine species such as sharks, rays, and sea turtles. MMF is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization in the United States. In Africa, they are headquartered in Tofo Beach, Mozambique, where they operate as Associação Megafauna Marinha (AMM). For more details on MMF please visit www.marinemegafauna.org or learn more about their Mozambican projects here. For regular updates on MMF’s work please follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media