Unit to monitor fisheries sector’s economic output |28 May 2015

Work is underway to set up a Fisheries Economic Intelligence Unit (FEIU) which will be specifically dedicated to the monitoring and analysis of the fisheries sector’s economic performance.
It will also provide specific advice to support decision-making for improved governance and management of the sector concurrent with the Blue Economy concept.
 
In line with this, a workshop was conducted with the assistance of a consultant, Christophe Breuil, contracted by Smartfish, with the objectives of reporting on the current status of the initiative, making a needs assessment for the strengthening and sustainability of the EIU, and providing a platform for discussions between various stakeholders.

The workshop, entitled ‘The initiative to strengthen the economic intelligence in Seychelles' fisheries sector’, was held at the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) on Wednesday last week.

Delegates at the workshop included representatives from the SFA, which is spearheading the initiative, and other key stakeholders such as the Central Bank of Seychelles, Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, National Bureau of Statistics, Seychelles Ports Authority, Seychelles Bureau of Standards (Fish Inspection and Quality Control Unit), Fishermen and Boat Owner’s Association (FBOA) and Oceana Fisheries.

As the project is still in a conceptual phase, those taking parts were briefed, through various presentations, on the present situation. This included the recent development of a repository database to ease economic analysis as well as the expectation vis-à-vis the unit and its proposed mandate and institutional arrangements.

The workshop concluded with some fruitful discussions depicting the way forward. Among the many important points raised, the most pertinent to ensuring the sustainability of the unit included the need to ensure its formalisation within the SFA structure; adequate staffing; capacity building; and the development of solid long-term partnerships between SFA and stakeholders, both public and private.

As the unit presents the potential of being the most advanced of its kind in the region, it has already benefited from various forms of technical assistance and could prospectively attract additional support from multiple international organisations such as the African Development Bank (ADB), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Bank, Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and the SmartFish programme.
 
SmartFish is one of the largest regional programmes for fisheries in Africa covering 20 beneficiary countries in the Eastern, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (ESA-IO) region. It is funded by the European Union and implemented by the IOC jointly with the FAO.

The need to create a FEIU within the SFA was identified in 2013 as part of the recommendations from a Smartfish funded document entitled ‘Statement of Intent to support national fisheries priorities for the Seychelles fishing policy’ authored by Joseph Catanzano & Joël Nageon. This proposal followed from a project funded by the World Bank to develop an economic intelligence tool for the tuna industry, used to measure the direct and indirect benefits generated by the Seychelles tuna industry.