Data Zone
Country/territory: Madagascar
IBA criteria met: A1, A3, A4i (1999)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 74,930 hectares (749.30 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2017 | very poor | very high | high |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
This site is located 10–30 km offshore of Maintirano, and includes the Iles Barren archipelago and the island of Nosy Marify. The archipelago comprises seven islets: Mavony, Lava, Andrano, Mangily, Dondosy, Androtra and Maroantaly. Most are covered in savanna with scattered trees and palms Hyphaene, but some are covered by Casuarina woodland. Nosy Mavony (Nosimborona) has very few trees but has a good cover of herbaceous plants such as Ipomoea. Nosy Dondosy, which ends with a rather abrupt cliff at its southern tip, is inhabited by fishermen. According to local information, Nosy Mangily remains uninhabited. Nosy Marify is located 17 km west from Maintirano. A small part of it is covered by Ipomoea.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 3 for key species. Twenty-one species are known from the site, of which one is endemic to Madagascar. A total of 1,480 pairs of Sterna dougallii were counted during a recent visit, of which 1,400 were on Nosy Mavony, where they were nesting with c.100 Sterna anaethetus. In 1982, there were c.2,000 pairs of Sterna dougallii at the site. Ardea humbloti has been recorded on Nosy Dondosy and Nosy Mangily.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Barren Islands MPA (Madagascar). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/barren-islands-mpa-iba-madagascar on 22/12/2024.