Liberia: Environmental Group Working With Fishing Communities to Manage Sharks and Rays

A community science project to manage sharks and rays in Liberia is building on its success to expand from Monrovia and Robertsport to new locations in Buchanan, Harper and Marshall. The project, a collaboration between the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA), will train local people to gather key information on Liberia's shark and ray populations, and give citizens the opportunity to feed into plans to improve fisheries sustainability.

Sharks and rays play a vital role in the health of many marine habitats. Loss of sharks, for instance, can lead to dramatic imbalances in the ecosystem that can cause the degradation of coral reefs and destruction of seagrass beds, both of which provide important nursery habitats for young fish. This is particularly important in Liberia, where 33,000 people rely on the fishing industry for their livelihoods, and 65% of all animal protein eaten comes from seafood.

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