Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
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.
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.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The resident fishermen collect the eggs of nesting birds, with the result that very few young birds hatch.
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.
