Page 14 - Seychelles Report

• Lack of commitment for the blue economy roadmap
• Deadlocked policies
• Overfishing

Piracy

The resurgence of piracy which threatened the fishing fleet is a reemerging issue. Piracy activities
have been on the rise in Seychelles since 2009. The prevalent of piracy on Seychelles’ waters has
Country Profile
threatened the fisheries and tourism sectors as evident by the drastic reduction in the number of
licensed industrial fishing vessels. In 2008 the number was estimated at 140 which dropped to 100
in 2011. Increased state patrol resulted in an increase in the number of registered vessels to 207 in
The Republic of Seychelles
2012.

The opportunity
Surveillance and control
Sanity in the fisheries sectors requires the presence of strong institutions that ensures compliance by
fishing vessels. Seychelles’ Fisheries Authority has a Monitoring Control and Surveillance Section
(MCS) in charge of monitoring and enforcement. The section comprises of the Enforcement Unit
and the Monitoring and Control Unit. The MCS is responsible for ensuring compliance with statutes,
regulation, international legal framework and provide support to local partners such as the National
Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA).

Seychelles has also intensified its port state control system. Improvements have been in the form
of sea patrol, training of inspectors and radio telecommunication. In 2012 Seychelles authorities
captured the Sri Lanka flag fishing vessel Lucky Too and fined it SCR 100,000 for violating ports
rules.

Land patrol in Mahe, Praslin and Digue for the purposes of inspecting licensed boats, landing at
authorized sits, inspection of sea cucumber, investigating illegal activities and the routinely beach
land sites inspection has also gained momentum.

14