(Madagascar) An assessment of the ecological characteristics of reef habitat most suitable for octopus; does reef flat quality alter the success of the short term fisheries closures?

Fieldwork in Madagascar required.

This project would develop a methodology for determining octopus habitat quality based on a lit review (e.g., rugosity, availability of potential dens, benthic substrate etc.) and traditional ecological knowledge of the villagers. The student will then apply the methodology to determine the quality of (a sample of) reserve sites, and come up with a relative ranking and scale of quality. She/he will confirm the findings with villagers through focus groups in each village to determine villager perception of the ‘best’ octopus sites and reasons why. Ecological data can then be compared with fisheries data across a 5 year period with the help of BV octopus experts. She/he will be provided with data summarising the results of all octopus reserves in the region since November 2004, and must determine whether ecological quality correlates to reserve effect.

Project Requirements

• A literature review needs to be completed in the home country.

• Field work needs to be completed in Andavadoaka southwest Madagascar over a minimum two month period.

Student Requirements

• It is hoped that all field work can be completed by snorkel surveys but it may also be necessary to conduct some with SCUBA so a minimum of PADI AOW qualification is required.

• Students will need to speak French or Malagasy for the focus groups with the village.

• There is currently no additional funding from BV available for this research.