Community-based aquaculture projects in a locally managed marine area in Madagascar provided small-scale fishers with alternative income streams to ease the pressure faced by fishing communities such as declining fish stocks and climate change. This research shows that participants accepted the new governance model which involved changing open access to private access because of the benefits – such as more predictable income generation, and benefit-sharing across the community. This model may have applicability in other coastal community settings in the Western Indian Ocean, to align community-based alternative livelihoods and marine conservation.