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Bowdoin College

Publication Date

Fall 2023

Program Name

Tanzania-Zanzibar: Coastal Ecology and Natural Resource Management

Abstract

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are complex organisms that ebb and flow between strict and unyielding conservation doctrines often at the cost of community engagement. Misali Island is different. Conceived and advocated for by community members, this organism has navigated a tumultuous tenure of environmental degradation, periods of high and low funding, and a looming tourism presence. On top of these challenges has been a growing fishing community attempting to share in the bounty of this shockingly biodiverse setting. This study sorts through the grey space of Misali Island by applying a hybrid narrative that interfaces the marine context of the meat weight of 12 selected key species with interviews and participant observations using the patrolled non-extraction zone as a microcosm. The resulting overlaps and complexities reveal the value of the non-extraction zone in harboring large pelagic species of economic value and at the same time a window into the rangers and their work leveraging the informal networks of the fishermen to support their work and the integrity of the MPA in the face of lacking governmental resources and support.

Disciplines

African Studies | Aquaculture and Fisheries | Environmental Health and Protection | Environmental Policy | Food Studies | Human Ecology | Oceanography | Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

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