From Hatchery to Community – Madagascar’s first village-based holothurian mariculture program

In the region of Toliara (Madagascar), a novel partnership has emerged between local communities, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and private sector stakeholders. The collaboration is working to pioneer a form of village-based mariculture in which hatchery-reared juvenile sea cucumbers are raised by
coastal communities in simple sea pens. The present paper describes how partners are working to demonstrate the social and economic viability of a new model for alternative livelihood creation amongst coastal
people in this impoverished region.