Sep 15, 2026 |
A new documentary from the Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) draws on two decades of research to make the case for a network of marine protected areas across Inhambane's ecosystems.
This global NGO, founded in 2009 at Tofo by Andrea Marshall and Simon Pierce, researches whale sharks, manta rays, turtles, whales and dugongs. The filming was carried out by the researcher, who heads the organisation's global manta ray department, along this stretch of coast, and the film sets out to take the scientific case for conservation to government, to partners, to donors and to schools across the province, as the MMF explains..
According to the organisation, the Inhambane seascape covers around 20 per cent of Mozambique's coastline, is rated Globally Outstanding by the IUCN and was declared a Mission Blue Hope Spot in 2022.
These waters hold Africa's last viable dugong population, five species of sea turtle and critical habitat for manta rays, humpback whales, whale sharks and the endangered wedgefish. Even so, only two protected areas fall within this perimeter.
The province is not starting from scratch. Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, created in May 1971 in the districts of Vilankulo and Inhassoro, is the country's oldest marine park and, according to African Parks, protects the last viable population of 250 dugongs in the Western Indian Ocean.
What the foundation's research supports is a shift from isolated areas to an interconnected system, with locations dictated by science and corridors that follow the animals' migration along the coast, much like Africa's transfrontier parks. Mozambique has committed to protecting 10 per cent of its territorial waters, rising to 30 per cent by 2030.
In the film, Andrea Marshall argues for this protection because "The Mozambican coastline, particularly the southern Mozambican coastline, is an area of global importance", noting that "one of the biggest threats is just fishing gears", a reference to the shift from handline fishing and nets cast by hand to large gillnets and longlines set offshore, with indiscriminate catches and steep declines in populations that had remained close to pristine until the 2000s.
American oceanographer Sylvia Earle, a global figure in ocean conservation, frames the argument by recalling that "now we know the ocean's greatest value is safeguarding the planet", and adds the measure of the work still to be done, "the value, the joy, the benefits that people are right on the edge of losing forever unless action is taken now".
The film was made with support from Mission Blue and is available in English and in Portuguese with the Portuguese dubbing carried out by the MMF team in Mozambique.
Photos and video: MMF
