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The Documentary: An octopus's garden

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An octopus's garden

02/01/2024 GMT

BBC World Service - The Documentary, An octopus's garden

A pioneering closure system is enabling octopus to flourish in Madagascar

A pioneering closure system is enabling octopus to flourish in Madagascar.

The octopus is prized as the most intelligent of all marine species – immortalised in stories, poems and songs worldwide. In Madagascar it is also a vital source of income. Hazel Healy takes a journey into a pioneering Madagascan closure system, which is enabling one particular species of octopus to flourish and protecting incomes for the most vulnerable. She learns how the system was first developed, and how it is inspiring other coastal communities in Kenya and Indonesia. 

Hazel talks to conservationists, fisher folk and community leaders, and learns how the exceptional rapid growth and short life span of one shallow-dwelling reef octopus species means that it can be fished heavily if the fishing is carefully managed and monitored. The system works by periodically closing a portion of a village’s octopus gleaning grounds so that the octopus is free to reproduce. At any communally agreed time, up to a quarter of a community’s fishing area may be closed for three months. During this time, the area is carefully patrolled against poachers. The result is a dramatic increase in octopus landings and improved fishing incomes when those areas are reopened. ‘Fish less, earn more,’ is the mantra of people locally who support the system. 

But this is also challenging for those who rely on fishing to survive from day to day. How are communities managing these different needs and finding alternative incomes during the closure periods? What are the key factors which might mean the system will succeed or fail? And how has the system had similar impacts in other parts of the world? 

Finally, Hazel learns how the success of the system has sparked greater support for ambitious marine management efforts more widely, including the creation of permanent marine reserves in Madagascar.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon
Music by The Enchanted Cinema
A Falling Tree production for BBC World Service

(Photo: A local resident in Madagascar. Credit: Madagascar Film and Photography)

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