Perseverance Eco-Club learns about FADs |27 June 2023

Seychelles Nation

Undertakes guided tour at holding facility

Members of the Perseverance Eco-Club had the chance last week to visit the Seychelles Fishing Authority warehouse being used as the holding facility for the Fish Aggregating Devices that were collected during the last salvage and retrieve mission conducted by Seychelles Coast Guard on the Saya De Malha vessel earlier this year.

The trip was the second of its kind; the first being in October 2022. The expedition was funded under the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) between the European Union and Seychelles, whereby ship-owners contributed 175,000 euros per annum for environmental management and observation of marine ecosystems in Seychelles waters.  This year part of the fund will be used for the retrieval of non-operational FADs.

With the aim to better manage these FADs and educate the public of their uses and importance to the sector, SFA and the Ministry of Fisheries and the Blue Economy have partnered with the Eco-Club of Perseverance to start educating the younger generation in line with their subjects related to the fishing industry.

They were given a guided tour of the holding facility by SFA’s chief executive Philippe Michaud and four of the five Seychelles Maritime Academy students who also participated in the expedition and who shared firsthand account of their trip.

The children were then surprised by Minister Jean-François Ferrari who came to talk to them about the importance of keeping the oceans safe and clean and about their roles and contribution.

Minister Ferrari also answered questions from the eager children who were very interested in the topic.

The children had the opportunity to choose one of the FADs to bring back to their school, from which part of it will be displayed and the rest will be recycled to be used as educational materials for further awareness.

Upon leaving the holding facility, the students proceeded to visit the Aquaculture facility to see the efforts being made by the SFA team to develop this sector.

The tour lasted till noon.

Text & photos contributed