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Seychelles achieves important milestone to increase transparency in its fisheries sector |08 April 2020

The International Board of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) has announced its approval of the country’s application, making the Seychelles the second country to be granted the status of a FiTI candidate country.

The Fisheries Transparency Initiative is a global multi-stakeholder partnership where governments, business and civil society collaborate jointly. It seeks to increase transparency and participation for the benefit of a more sustainable management of marine fisheries and the well-being of citizens and businesses that depend on the marine environment.

“Seychelles is very proud of this achievement, which demonstrates clearly that we are on the way to improve the public availability of information on our fisheries sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of diversifying our economy and transitioning to more sustainable practices as dictated for a blue economy. Transparency in our fisheries sector will not only help to hold decision-makers accountable, but will also increase public understanding of the benefits, challenges and best practices in our development of a sustainable fisheries sector. As key principles of our blue economy strategy, transparency and institutionalised collaborations with all bona fide stakeholders will reiterate our position as a leader in ocean governance.

“Furthermore, we have committed to publishing our first FiTI report at the end of 2020, which will reflect the strides that Seychelles has made in these challenging times,” said Vice- President Vincent Meriton.

After almost 18 months of stakeholder discussions, Vice-President Meriton submitted the Seychelles’ official candidate application on behalf of the country’s National Multi-Stakeholder Group to the FiTI International Secretariat on March 6, 2020. The implementation of the FiTI in Seychelles is led by a National Multi-Stakeholder Group consisting of 12 members – four representatives from government, four representatives from business and four representatives from civil society.

Philippe Michaud, senior advisor to the vice-president for the blue economy, serves as the Seychelles FiTI national lead.

“On behalf of the FiTI international board, I wish to convey my congratulations to the Seychelles and all those involved in the process for achieving this important milestone. The current global pandemic is already placing even greater pressures on our ocean, for example as a key contributor to food and nutrition security. Achieving sustainable fisheries will therefore become even more critical in the future by carefully balancing economic, social and environmental considerations. This cannot happen without transparency. Public understanding is therefore a prerequisite to engage all stakeholders in an effective national dialogue on the current status and the way forward of the country’s marine sector. We are excited to continue supporting the Seychelles in its quest to become an FiTI compliant country, by undergoing regular assessments on the availability, accessibility and completeness of information on the country’s marine fisheries sector,” stated Sven Biermann, executive director of the FiTI international secretariat.

The global headquarters of the FiTI has recently been relocated from Germany to Seychelles.

 

Source: Department of the blue economy

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