There are a few areas in the Western Indian Ocean where community conservation efforts are emerging or where Government initiated conservation efforts are collaborating closely with the local communities when it comes to enforcement, monitoring and management. In Zanzibar for instance, fishers committees are established in many communities with the purpose of making resource use more sustainable. Government is increasingly forming links with those fishers committees. This seems to be the way forward when dealing with isolated communities where traditional values are still strong and the local communities are the only ones using the resource. When the communities can do conservation the way they have always done it, utilizing indigenous knowledge and traditional value systems the potential conflicts are minimized and the chance to achieve successful resource management increases.

In areas where there is open access for people from many communities and from far away, it is however more difficult to enforce even local conservation efforts, as outsiders come in and fish the way they want without considering the local communities. In these cases it is more likely that a more strict management system will have greater success, particularly if strict zoning is implemented and non-destructive fishing is allowed in some areas while small strict no-take areas can assure recovery of the resources.
Some big questions come up that will need to be addressed if we want to see artisanal fishing on a more sustainable path. Some of the questions that come up are:

1. Who should have the right to fish in a Marine Conservation Area - only the local communities or anyone coming from anywhere in the country?

2. How can local fishers who depend so much on the dwindling resources be convinced to use better methods even if it may mean less fish in the short term?

3. How can local communities be convinced to leave alone some “core areas” and not fish there at all?

4. How can local communities be involved in the demarcation and establishment of MPAs?

These are only some of the important questions that we need to find answers for. There are more questions, and the answers may be few. However, let’s share what we know from the different parts of the Western Indian Ocean about what works, and what does not work.