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Archive -Fishing and Agriculture

World Fisheries Day - ‘Let’s honour our fisher folk and communities’ |22 November 2017

On the occasion of World Fisheries Day, celebrated yesterday, the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture Pamela Charlette has

sent a message in which she pays tribute to our fisher folk.

She has also urged each and every one of us to ensure that we sustain the livelihood of the fisher folk and their families.

Minister Charlette’s message reads:

“On the occasion of World Fisheries Day, November 21, let us all honour our fisher folk and communities. World Fisheries Day is celebrated around the world to highlight the critical role of human lives, the sea and the lives it sustains, both in and out of water.

“The world today is becoming more aware of the importance of our oceans and seas and of the need to preserve and exploit their resources sustainably especially faced with stock depletion, the effects of global warming, climate change, pollution to name but a few. The effect of these are more severe on our artisanal fishers as they have no alternative livelihood.

“As the second pillar of the country’s economy fisheries is something very close to our heart. In our small communities, every other person have a relative, a neighbour or knows someone who is a fisherman. This is how dear this profession is to us.

“All stakeholders have an imperative role to play in ensuring that fisheries resources are harvested sustainably. This important role is not only for the policy or law maker only, we are all custodians of our marine resources and we have the responsibility to ensure its legacy. While the ocean supports life it can also take life, therefore we all must also recognise the importance of safety at sea in the fisheries sector.

“The threat of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing to the sustainability of marine resources is real, and we need to collaborate and pull resources together to combat this plight, which deprives our economy of the much needed resources, threaten employment in this sector and deprives our household of our much need source of protein.

“In line with Goal 14 of the United Nations Development objective to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, I am calling for actions to effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing.

“Seychelles for its part is championing the Blue Economy Concept where the above factors are the main drivers of development.

“We need to join forces and re-think how we exploit our oceanic resources. We need at all cost to factor in the equation, such as food security, nutrition, social cohesion, sustainability, stability and development, cultural values, income and employment generation and livelihoods in all aspect of our fisheries.  We must all pledge to play our role in ensuring that we sustain the livelihood of our fisher folks and their families.

“I wish you all a Happy World Fisheries Day”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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