MIHARI: Fisher knowledge, awareness and behaviour change for the conservation of dugongs and seagrass - The MIHARI network of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) was established in 2012, to provide a platform to support and represent Madagascar’s rapidly-growing network of community-managed marine and coastal protected areas. - The platform now comprises over 200 LMMAs throughout Madagascar, and provides a valuable framework for engaging with communities a large swath of Madagascar’s coastal environments. - The MIHARI network is being used to collect information on dugongs and seagrass habitats in coastal Madagascar, as well promoting seagrass and wider marine conservation in the country. - Facilitate networking and learning exchanges between LMMA associations. - Raise awareness about importance of key habitats and species for marine resource management, including seagrass and dugongs. - Pursue relevant opportunities to build community capacity and local leadership. - Ensure fishers’ voices are heard by policy makers. - Engage closely with the Government of Madagascar to ensure a strong and supportive legal framework for local marine management is in place. - Develop simple systems for tracking and monitoring progress of LMMAs across Madagascar. - Explore options for securing the financial sustainability of LMMAs and the MIHARI network. - Communicate the impact of LMMAs in Madagascar to key stakeholders. - Five priority sites for seagrass and dugong conservation have been supported in the north west of Madagascar: Nosy Faly, Ankazomborona), Analalava, Ampasindava and Anjajavy. - Memoranda of understanding were signed to establish collaboration terms with NGO partners. - More than 1,500 reached though awareness raising and social marketing activities during workshops, MIHARI forums, and the dugong festival. - 1,000 brochures, 450 booklets, four banners, three radio programmes and one LMMA guide for strengthening community governance were distributed, - 12 LMMA leaders from the five project sites were trained in data collection and dugong monitoring techniques. MIHARI was invited to the dugong festival at Nosy Hara Lessons learned: - Collaborating with the other national partners in this project allowed MIHARI to learn from their experiences and share materials and tools. - The remoteness of potential priority sites and limited NGO support led to delays in their assessment and the speed at which activities could take place on the ground, so choosing sites with a partner organization is important as MIHARI is able to provide the most effective support to LMMAs if they already have an existing NGO partner supporting them. Next steps: - Finalise and share MIHARI database. - Continue to raise awareness on destructive fishing practices. - The new fisheries steering committee within MIHARI will be provide technical support to sustainable fisheries activities within LMMAs. - Implementation of the LMMA criteria/ guide/ toolkit. - MIHARI will continue to work with fishing communities, LMMAs and the authorities in order to ensure exclusive rights to inshore fishing areas, stronger enforcement to reduce destructive fishing practices, and governmental support for traditional local laws (dina). Celebrating protection of dugongs at the festival Group workshop at NW regional forum in Eric, an LMMA leader, being interviewed Sketch, created by C3, on importance of dugongs