Minister Ferrari visits renovated SFA building |03 June 2023

Seychelles Nation

Holds meeting with Nature Conservancy team for sustainable fishing

Fisheries and Blue Economy Minister Jean-François Ferrari visited the renovated Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) building at the artisanal fishing port earlier this week and held a meeting with The Nature Conservancy team regarding the marine spatial planning initiative, where two components were discussed for sustainable fishing.

As part of his visit, Minister Ferrari explored the license foreign and license local rooms along with the right wing section of the building.

He expressed his joy that the staff were glad to return to the renovated building.

“They had been in the building for 35 years and it was really necessary to have a renovation,” stated Minister Ferrari.

Fishermen can now go to the renovated building for all licensing issues and fuel subsidies along with fuel vouchers.

The other services that are still being offered at the Espace building will eventually move back to the renovated building when more space is acquired.

The more economic aspects such as importation are the ones that remain at the Espace building.

Minister Ferrari stated that the renovation was a success and it was well done.

However, minor difficulties such as overcrowding, could have been solved with each staff getting their own office, but the open plan nature of the renovation facilitates communication among the staff. Renovating the SFA headquarters is the first step. A new building will soon be erected to cater for the more technical departments. The new building will be constructed in between the renovated building and the artisanal fishing port.

“The rent at Espace was costing us a lot of money, so we had to move fast to complete the renovations here,” Minister Ferrari stated.

SFA had to relocate to Espace over two years ago due to fungus and structural problem in some offices.

“Sometimes, renovations cost more than building it from scratch, but we wanted to guard this structure and it cost us between R8 and R10 million, which is more than we thought.

But if we have a good structure, the staff like it and it enhances the SFA image, then I also like it,” said Minister Ferrari.

Yesterday’s visit was followed by a meeting with The Nature Conservancy team, comprising fisheries specialist Dr Ameer Ebrahim, maritime spatial planning project manager and regional MSP advisor Helena Sims, and Ana Nadal, project director for large scale fisheries programme.

They presented two components of the marine spatial planning project to Minister Ferrari; Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment Flavien Joubert; principal secretary for fisheries Roy Clarisse and SFA’s acting chief executive Philippe Michaud.

The project commenced officially in 2021 to support sustainable fishing.

One of the main components focusing on coastal fisheries uses an innovative tool called FishPath ‒ an approach to setting fisheries on the path to sustainability.

FishPath was developed by The Nature Conservancy together with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and NOAA Fisheries in the United States of America (USA). It was applied to 17 countries spanning over 45 fisheries in order to diagnose fishery challenges and ways forward by using the online FishPath decision support tool. It gives different options on how to maintain sustainability fishing.

The policy for electronic monitoring system (EMS) is part of the fishing comprehensive plan in which there is a directive to have an EMS on all vessels. However, it is not a legal requirement, so a policy was necessary to form the guidelines for EMS in Seychelles.

The Nature Conservancy is also supporting capacity building with the Seychelles government to help them implement the EMS programme and create data standards for how EMS can be scaled up in the region. It is also supporting fish aggregating device (FAD) management by looking at the current drift FAD and providing feedback and technical support.

Seychelles started a pilot programme in 2018 on two industrial boats and long line boats to see whether the country could engage in the project for the long term. The results were positive, which led to the country applying to gain support to continue the activities.

Executive committee chair for MSP, Minister Joubert, stated that the team is committed to follow the elaboration of the plan.

“What we are seeing with TNC is a key action that is necessary to put in place on our surveillance system for our maritime species,” said Minister Joubert.

The minister also explained that this is an elaboration for components on things that are constantly questioned for their price. “One of the things that is being done is a financial analysis, the implications of EMS for SFA. This will give us a better idea on how to distribute the resources to support this plan,” said Minister Joubert.

For his part, Minister Ferrari said the MSP project is one of the most important projects for the fishing industry and the blue economy as it will give an idea as to how Seychelles uses and exploits its resources in a more sustainable fashion.

He explained that the world recognises Seychelles for this work and a lot of overseas partners have financed projects such as this.

“One component is developing monitoring which impacts the industrial and semi-industrial boats. We are not using this to monitor the fishermen like police officers but rather to see what is happening, what type of fishing is being done and how is it being done,” explained Minister Ferrari.

He exclaimed that there is a programme that will eventually move the industry to using 100% EMS in all fishing boats.

The second programme focuses on two species in particular ‒ lobster and spinal crabs. The minister stated that the innovative methods to bring better management to the species is really well implemented. “I will support the project because they will bring better management in the end. It will benefit artisanal fishing and other kinds of fishermen. We are very satisfied with the report,” he said.

The project is funded by the International Climate Initiative and the Government of Germany.

The Nature Conservancy is a national organisation that has been supporting Seychelles since 2014 with the MSP plan with different objectives, one of which is supporting the blue economy of Seychelles.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of Minister Ferrari’s visit.

Sunny Esparon

Photos by Joena Meme