Abstract

With support from the French Department of Ecology, the National Park of Guadeloupe has taken careful steps to assess the feasibility of reintroducing Antillean manatees to the waters of the Grand Cul-de-Sac-Marin bay (GCSM), a large protected area of 15,000 ha. Although manatees were extirpated from Guadeloupe several decades ago, the waters of the GCSM bay are well protected, including enforced no-entry zones, and have relatively little boat traffic or other threats to manatees. A number of meetings have been organized in recent years to involve and inform the project’s stakeholders, including but not limited to fishermen, boaters, tourism operators, environmental non-governmental organizations and community leaders. Formal agreements with local fishing organizations and excellent relationships with communities (including “Lamentin” - French for manatee) are attempting to secure local support of a re-introduction effort. Special attention has been paid to developing a dialog with local fishing groups. The National Park of Guadeloupe (PNG) and the Fisheries Committee of Guadeloupe (CRPM) have jointly decided to conduct a study to assess the potential impact of the presence of manatees on fishing activities and vice versa. This effort lies within the framework of a wider cooperative agreement promulgated and formally initiated in February 2011 between the PNG and the CRPM. Furthermore, representatives of the fishing communities in Guadeloupe met with their counterparts in Puerto Rico in September 2011 to discuss the experience that the latter group has had involving interactions between manatees and fishing activities, and the possible effects on fishing.

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