Page 12 - Mauritius REPORT

The constraints

Food Security
All the artisanal fisheries catch and 90 per cent of the bank’s fisheries catch is consumed domestically
with local fish consumption at 23kg per capita per annum (Morgan, 2011). In 2019, total fisheries
production was estimated at 16,300 metric tons against a domestic market demand of 29,400
metric tons (Morgan, 2011) (World Bank, 2017). This deficit means that Mauritius has to import fish
Country Profile
to maintain domestic supply. The growing population, high food prices, climate change and poverty
being the overarching threats to food security. The demand for fish is expected to grow and this is a
concern as in some areas fishing effort is at the maximum sustainable yield.
The Republic of Mauritius

Figure 4: Total imports and exports of f?sh and f?shery products for the Republic
of Mauritius (USD 1)

Import Export

Source: (FAO FishStat, 2019)
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) f?shing

Mauritius has a vast EEZ and the surveillance of this area is indeed a challenge. The fisheries
resources of concern in most of the EEZ is the tuna fishery which forms the basis of an important local
fish processing industry in the region. There is evidence of illegal fishing activities in the waters of
Mauritius as reported in by Fish-i Africa ( Stop Illegal Fishing, 2017).

Low investment in the f?sheries sector
There are a number of areas that require attention if the fisheries sector is to be revitalized. These
include greater attention to the current monitoring programs, including fisheries and Marine Protected
Areas, compilation of Fisheries Management Plans for all of the fisheries sectors and greater funding
and attention to the enhancing research capacity. Although there is an existing Aquaculture Master
Plan to guide the sector, it appears to encourage only large-scale mariculture activities, excluding
the small-scale operators and investors from benefitting directly from mariculture activities at a local
level.

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