Marine spatial plan - Protecting 30% of Seychelles’ EEZ |09 October 2017

Stakeholders and the general public have had the opportunity to contribute their feedback on the draft proposal of phase 1 of the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) initiative in a workshop held last week.

The marine spatial plan (MPS) is similar to the land use plan in that it seeks to demarcate specific areas of the Seychelles’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for different activities such as fisheries, tourism, and biodiversity protection.

It is an initiative that allows for the promotion of the country’s Blue economy agenda, sustainable development, economic prosperity and food security.

But principally the MSP aims to identify and designate 30% of the country’s 1.37 million square kilometres of EEZ as marine protected areas.

More than 47% of the land in Seychelles is currently protected while only 0.04% of our ocean territory, which is estimated to be larger than South Africa, is protected.

The initiative is being led by the government of Seychelles, and in particular the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change.

The process is being eased by an international non-profit organisation called The Nature Conservancy with the support of the GOS-UNDP-GEF programme.

Launched in 2014 the plan is expected to be fully completed by 2020, in which there are three major milestones that need to be achieved. All three milestones are set conditions of the debt-for-adaptation swap Seychelles agreed to in 2015.

The first milestone of phase 1 of the MSP is to allocate 15% of the EEZ for marine protection and have that endorsed by the cabinet of ministers by December 2017.

It is with this specific milestone in mind that the workshop was conducted whereby stakeholders present were able to discover some of the proposed marine spatial plan zoning areas in the phase 1 draft.

There are currently three zone categories proposed:

• Zone 1: High biodiversity protection zone. 15% of the EEZ is to be allocated for high marine conservation and biodiversity goals.
• Zone 2: Medium biodiversity protection and sustainable use zone. 15% of the EEZ to be allocated for medium marine conservation and biodiversity goals and used in a sustainable manner compatible with these goals.
• Zone 3: Remaining 70% of the EEZ will be used to conduct activities benefitting Seychelles, with development aligned with long-term sustainability of the natural resources.

The Aldabra group has been identified as one of the areas which fall under zone 1 and its inclusion in such needs no explanation as the Aldabra area is an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot with high abundance of pelagic predators and biodiversity.

This area which amounts to 5.4% of the Seychelles ocean includes the 17 islands and islets of Aldabra Atoll and Assumption Atoll but excludes Cosmoledo and Astove atolls.

Meanwhile, area 4 and 6 consist of some islands in the Amirantes Group and African Banks, the Mahé Plateau, Platte and Coetivy islands, Constance and Fortune will fall under zone 2 and occupies 10.8% of the EEZ. It has been identified as an area important for artisanal, semi-industrial and industrial fishing activities and the MSP aims to improve on its sustainable management.

Other areas and issues such as climate change are expected to be addressed in the second and final phase of the initiative which will span from 2018 to 2020.

According to Helena Sims, the MSP project manager based full-time in Seychelles, the feasibility of the MSP initiative relies heavily on multi-sectorial collaboration and it is for this reason that consultations and workshops such as the one organised last week are important.

To date the initiative has eased more than 22 stakeholder meetings, 50 small group consultations and 60 one-to-one discussions.

Miss Sims explained said that the plans will also be going online for public viewing.

Dr Joanna Smith, the process and science lead for the project emphasised that consultations with various sectors is paramount to the success on the MSP.