From ritual performers to ocean defenders: fisher migrations, identity narratives and resource access in the Barren Isles, West Madagascar

Figures & data

Table 1. Categories of rights-based, structural and relational mechanisms to access resources from Ribot and Peluso’s framework (Ribot & Peluso, 2003), and migrant fishing (this article)

	Category	Role in access to the resources	In Vezo migrant fisheries
Rights-based mechanisms	Law, conventions, permits,	Provide rights-based access	Common property, Fisheries law, ritual system, conservation measures
	Illegal means	Provide access by mobilizing non-legal processes in direct opposition to rights-based access	Illegal fishing through the use of prohibited equipment, fishing of protected species or through non-compliance to the area’s management rules
Structural and relational mechanisms	Technology	Equipment of all sorts that improves access or allows its control	Types of boats and fishing equipment
	Capital	Finances that enable actors to gain and control access and benefits	Financial capital of fishers and profits gained to invest in fishing boats and gears
	Market	Access to markets influences who can benefit from the resources	Access to the international market through fishing of high valued species such as sharks and sea cucumbers
	Labor	Relations and opportunities that provide benefits to those in control and access to those without rights	Labor opportunities amongst migrants through family ties and marriages
	Knowledge	Provides access through belief systems and by shaping justifications of access	Ecological knowledge about the marine resources and ecosystems, knowledge of rituals, customary rules and conservation measures
	Authority	Allows the control of access and influences who benefits	Authority of elders and ritual specialists on various rituals (offerings, spirit possession, divination, blessing, charms, sacrifices taboos). Authority of NGOs on conservation decisions and of government departments on management rules
	Social identity	Can provide access through local status or membership of a group	Vezo identities: as relying on fishing only for livelihood and as ocean defenders, both providing them ability to access, use and benefit from marine resources
	Other social relations	Friendship, trust, reciprocity, patronage, dependence that can be used to control and maintain access to the resources, markets and labor opportunities	Relationship with ritual specialists to understand taboos, interaction with NGOs for the conservation of resources

Vezo fishers preparing net and sailing to fishing grounds

Table 2. Individual islands of the archipelago most frequented by migrant fishers. (Sources: Cripps, 2010; Muttenzer, 2020)

Isles	Surface (ha)	Period of high frequentation and main target species	Existing rituals
Nosy Maroantaly	49	June-November (Pelagic fishes) February-December (shark) Periodically (sea cucumber)	Sacred tamarind tree with a sacred spirit Requests to can be made Soft drinks and honey to be given as offering
Nosy Manandra	18	March-December (Shark and sea cucumber) June-November (Pelagic fishes)	Presence of a sacred spirit Spirit can possess human hosts Food in clamshells, honey and a coin needed to feed, appease or make a request to the spirit
Nosy Lava	77	All year (Sharks, fin-fish, pelagic fishes, sea cucumber – when visibility allows)	Sacred tamarind tree where spirits appear if angry. Corpse cannot be brought to the land Invocations and offerings (soft drink and bull’s blood) are needed to appease the spirits
Nosy Mangily	17	All year (Sharks, sea cucumber)	Sacred tamarind tree where divinities are worshiped Requests to divinities can be made to facilitate fishing activities Rice and honey to be given as offering
Nosy Abohazo	30	March-December (shark and sea cucumber) March-November (fin-fish)	Sacred tree with a sacred spirit Lack of respect of taboos can cause instant death
Nosy Marify	11	March-December (sharks) June-November (sea cucumber) March-November (fin-fish)	Sacrificial stone with the presence of a spirit Spirit can possess human hosts Blood sacrifice to be brought to the stone as offering to appease or make request to the spirit

Figure 1. Migration route of Vezo fishers to the Barren Isles. Source: Adapted from data presented in Cripps and Gardner (2016) and Cripps (2010)

Net maintenance and traditional fishing canoe

Table 3. Species targeted by Vezo and related fishing gears (Sources: Barnes-Mauthe et al., 2013; Iida 2005; Muttenzer 2015; Grenier 2013)

For consumption		For export market
Species	Fishing gears used	Species	Fishing gears used
Fin-fish Large pelagic fish Marine turtle And Marine Mammals	Spear guns, nylon nets, beach seining Several gillnets Opportunistically caught by spear-fishing or gill net	Gastropod shells Lobsters Octopus Sea cucumber Sharks (for their fins)	Gleaning Free-diving with a small spear Gleaning Gleaning and free-diving Longlining, large gillnets

Sea cucumbers salted and dried

Table 4. Marine resources and ecosystems with conservation interests on the Barren Isles. (Source: Cripps, 2010)

Habitats	Species
Coral reefs, seagrass, soft bottom near-shore, mangroves and coastal wetlands, island vegetation, coastal sand dunes and littoral forest	Sharks and rays, sea cucumbers, marine turtles, Spanish mackerel and other pelagic fish, cetaceans and sea birds

Vezo village and knowledge exchange between fishers

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