Seychelles discusses first protocol for experimental fisheries |24 March 2023
Mr Hassan addressing the gathering (Photos: Louis Toussaint)
Discussions have started on Seychelles’ first draft protocol for experimental fisheries that can be developed to support fish export.
The half-day consultative meeting spearheaded by the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) in collaboration with the European Development Fund, Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) took place yesterday at the STC conference room.
It was SFA’s deputy chief executive, Ashik Hassan, who launched the discussion, highlighting the importance of identifying new fisheries with commercial potential for the island. However, before the value-added aspect could be considered SFA should test its fisheries management framework, to see how robust it was and whether it could sustain the sector as well as put in place a protocol that will cover any new fisheries that take place in the future.
He stated that this consultation, which is at its earliest stage, should be done with the involvement of the fisheries-related stakeholders. A dozen of them including processors and exporters were present at the meeting as well as SFA officials and other European Union (EU) representatives.
“Today we have a lot of species, which are not being commercially exploited such as green jobfish (zob gri), ‘makonde’, and ‘etelis’ among others but which have the potential for export. Since we do not have a framework in place how to go about it, we want to come up with a framework together with the involvement of the private sector and this would be applied on all new experimental fisheries. So there will be a guided step to go about it,” explained Mr Hassan.
Mr Hassan said the discussion will also be the time for the partners to agree on the species that would be exploited first. The two being proposed at present by professor Warwick Sauer, the South African consultant who has designed the protocol, are deep water shrimp and squid.
“We are presently fishing mainly on the Mahé plateau but other areas have species with huge potential, such as deep-water shrimp. So, we should consider looking into them as well and these will be addressed at these consultative meetings,” added Mr Hassan.
The draft protocol proposed by professor Sauer outlines a step-by-step guideline for the design and implementation of new fisheries as well as identifying new fishery resources that are underutilised or test new fishing methods.
He told Seychelles NATION that since the country was starting from scratch, the process will be a lengthy one, starting by identifying new species either in by-catch or to go look for them.
“There might be some very good squid species that can be caught in these waters, they are quite deep, and are seen at night. That is not something you would normally do but if you try it out and you catch them in great numbers, then you can look at whether you can develop an export market for them,” he said, adding this could apply to the deep-water shrimps, where already there has been some traps set by the SFA to explore this species, and to see whether they could be commercially viable.
He explained the initial process would be to set up an exploratory fishery which would normally take a year or 18 months, which involves going out at sea and explore the different species. The next step would be the experimental fishery which, he said, would normally run around three to five years.
“And during that process you do everything, you try and work out what is going on, you try and catch as much as you can, you develop the markets and see what the potential is,” he explained.
Professor Sauer said it was only at the end of that process that the government will decide whether it is viable, has a potential market, can be caught at a reasonable rate and the fishery can be done in a sustainable manner.
“It is only then that we will go into a fully-fledged commercial fishery and people can apply for permits,” added professor Sauer.
“You do not only have to catch them, but it must be done at a reasonable return on investment, financially. Otherwise, it is not worth your while,” he added.
One of the questions raised at the meeting was the disadvantage of entering into new fisheries without a protocol in place. Professor Sauer explained that it could lead to overfishing, citing an example in Rodrigues where an absence of a protocol before 2021 led to overfishing of octopus, which were caught in large numbers during spawning.
“A protocol promotes sustainable fisheries,” he stressed.
Another query is related to the reluctance of the private sector to venture into experimental fisheries since it is considered risky and costly, leaving the government to bear the cost.
He advised that to ensure private sector involvement it is important to engage them in the experimental fishery by using their commercial vessels for the tests, in the presence of SFA officials who will carry out the experiments.
Several meetings are expected to take place to finalise the document. Once approved by the stakeholders, it will apply to all new types of fisheries.
Patsy Canaya
