Two of the Indian Ocean's most biodiverse coastlines just became dramatically safer places to be a shark.
At a side event of the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, on June 17, 2026, the governments of Madagascar and Zanzibar announced sweeping new national protections for sharks and rays. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which helped coordinate the announcements, called it the latest milestone in a decade-long push to give the ocean's most threatened predators a real shot at recovery.
What's actually changing
Zanzibar will extend full protection in its coastal waters to 34 species, including hammerheads, threshers, and the Zanzibar guitarfish — a critically endangered ray found nowhere else on Earth. Madagascar's new measures cover a similar suite of vulnerable species and tighten enforcement around fishing gear that disproportionately harms sharks and rays as bycatch.
Together, the two announcements complement landmark CITES gains made in recent years, which now regulate roughly 96% of the global shark fin trade. In other words: the international rules already exist on paper. What changes here is what happens in the water, off the coast of two countries that sit at the heart of the western Indian Ocean.
Why these waters matter
The seas around Madagascar and Zanzibar are some of the richest shark and ray habitats on the planet. Coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and mangrove-lined estuaries provide nursery grounds for species that can live for decades and travel thousands of miles. Lose them here, and the ripple effects reach far beyond the region.
Sharks and rays are slow-growing animals that reproduce late and infrequently — a biology that makes them spectacularly poorly suited to industrial fishing pressure. Globally, more than a third of shark and ray species are now threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN. National-level protections are some of the most effective tools available, because they convert international agreements into rules a coast guard or fisheries inspector can actually enforce.
Decades in the making
The announcements didn't happen overnight. WCS scientists and local partners have spent years working with Madagascar's Ministry of Fisheries and Zanzibar's Department of Fisheries Development to build the scientific case, train monitoring teams, and engage coastal communities whose livelihoods depend on healthy seas.
"This is a major step for shark and ray conservation in the western Indian Ocean," WCS officials said in announcing the measures. The organization noted that both governments committed to enforcement plans alongside the species lists — a detail conservationists say often makes the difference between a protected species and a protected species on paper.
A bigger ocean movement
The Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa drew commitments worth billions of dollars across themes including marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, and climate resilience. The Madagascar and Zanzibar shark announcements were among several conservation wins that emerged from the gathering, which also saw new pledges to expand marine reserves around remote islands and to crack down on illegal fishing in the region.
For sharks and rays — animals that have patrolled the world's oceans for more than 400 million years — every national protection adds a slightly larger margin of safety. Two more countries just made that margin a lot bigger.
