Publications and Reports

This first volume of the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) Science-Policy series is themed ‘Transitioning to a Sustainable Blue Economy in the WIO region: Addressing the challenges and harnessing opportunities’. This series is produced by the Nairobi Convention and WIOMSA. The Contracting Parties of the Nairobi Convention, through various COP Decisions, have emphasized the need to strengthen the linkage between science and policy for evidence-based decisions to conserve coastal and marine resources in the WIO region.

This Report reveals the main threats facing chondrichthyans in the Nairobi Convention area of the WIO to include: overexploitation and excessive mortality of chondrichthyan (particularly threatened) species; inadequate national-level policy and legislation in most countries; inadequate protection afforded by existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) throughout the WIO; poor implementation of management and conservation measures defined under Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs); high levels of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) chondrichthyan fishing and trade (facilitated by