Coastal dolphins off Madagascar are impacted by local hunting and bycatch, threatening populations of Endangered Indian Ocean humpback dolphins and Near Threatened Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. Since 2004, a collaborative team of US and Malagasy conservation scientists have conducted surveys to assess the status of these species on the west coast of Madagascar, and institute community-based conservation programs to mitigate documented hunting and bycatch in the southwest region.

In this two-year project, we will build upon the critical conservation actions previously started in the southwest communities as well as assess their effectiveness. Building upon a proven model, we will engage communities to create local conservation associations, create traditional governance mechanisms known as Dina, conduct outreach and education, and assess alternative livelihood development. The effectiveness of our actions will be assessed with interviews and market surveys, to assess and compare the conservation efforts implemented over the last decade.

Finally, we will use our comprehensive dataset collected during 2004-2014 to build predictive models of the distribution of coastal dolphins, overlap the spatial distribution of hunting and bycatch pressure, and thus identify new areas of continuing conservation concern.