Endangered, essential and exploited: How extant laws are not enough to protect marine megafauna in Madagascar Frances Humber a,b,n,1 , Mialy Andriamahefazafy a,1 , Brendan John Godley b , Annette Cameron Broderick b a Blue Ventures Conservation, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP, UK b Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK article info Article history: Received 29 January 2015 Received in revised form 14 May 2015 Accepted 15 May 2015 Keywords: Marine turtle Elasmobranch Legislation Bycatch Sharks Conservation abstract The decline of many marine megafauna species is of global concern; but many of these species, in particular marine mammals, have been afforded international and national protection and are the focus of conservation programmes. The existing national and international legislation are reviewed through which marine megavertebrates are afforded protection in Malagasy waters. The decline and protection of marine megafauna has followed a familiar pattern in Madagascar, with two main exceptions: marine turtles and elasmobranchs remain heavily exploited by national and international fishing fleets. The status of legislation governing both taxa is unclear and unknown by many working within the fisheries and marine sector. In Madagascar, marine turtles are fully protected from exploitation by national regulations in conjunction with a number of multilateral agreements. The numerous pieces of legislation that protect marine turtles are not coherent, regularly misunderstood and rarely enforced. Madagascar is taking steps to improve protection of marine turtles through the development of a national strategy, but it is recommended that the opportunity is also taken to improve understanding of current legislation and work more closely with local communities that consider turtle fishing a customary practice. Elasmobranchs however, receive minimal legal protection and only those listed under multilateral agreements are bound by any potential future management. Where legislation does exist to help manage elasmobranchs (eg. bycatch stipulations for foreign fishing vessels) it is incomplete and difficult to enforce. It is also recommended that Madagascar puts in place national elasmobranch legislation to help prevent their continued overfishing, especially in the face of increasing numbers of elasmobranch species on CITES and CMS. As such, both groups of species are rendered effectively unprotected and are in danger of overexploitation. With the growth and proliferation of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in Madagascar the potential for local communities to increase protection and management of these species should be considered, especially with the limited capacity available to monitor and enforce legislation along such a vast coastline. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Fisheries exploitation is not limited to finfish and invertebrate species but in many countries also includes megafauna [1–3]. Populations of large marine animals are estimated to have declined by 89% from their historical baseline, with rapid declines related to overexploitation [4]. The hunting of cetaceans, dugongs and marine turtles was historically much higher, although exploitation still continues today at reduced levels, due in part to an increase in protective legislation [5–7]. In contrast, the take of elasmobranchs has increased rapidly over the last half of the 20th century as the demand for shark fins from Asia became a major driver for the expansion of these fisheries [8,9], and are targeted by numerous small-scale and industrial fisheries [10–12]. Whales, dolphins, dugongs, elasmobranchs (including sawfish), and marine turtles are found in Madagascar's waters, and include many species of global conservation concern [13]. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), for example, are known to migrate along the east and west coasts of Madagascar, but they have not been historically targeted by fishers and currently receive full legal protection from exploitation by Decree 93-022, as do all marine mammals (Supplementary material Appendix S1). Dolphins appear to only be targeted opportunistically in a few isolated locations, Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol Marine Policy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2015.05.006 0308-597X/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author at: Blue Ventures Conservation, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, London, N7 9DP, UK. Tel.: þ44 20 7697 8598. E-mail addresses: fran@blueventures.org (F. Humber), mialy@blueventures.org (M. Andriamahefazafy), B.J.Godley@exeter.ac.uk (B.J. Godley), A.C.Broderick@exeter.ac.uk (A.C. Broderick). 1 These authors made equal contributions to the manuscript. Marine Policy 60 (2015) 70–83