South African delegation on fact-finding mission |20 February 2018

The Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture is currently hosting a delegation from its South African counterpart, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The delegation consists of the director of offshore on high seas fisheries management, the acting director for fisheries and protection vessels and the deputy director for fisheries international relations.

Their three-day visit which will span from February 19-21 forms part of a fact finding-mission which has the aim of developing and finalising a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the local MFA and the South African government.

In a briefing session with the media, the principal secretary for fisheries, Jude Talma, stated that the MoU is presently in its final stage of development and has been the product of years of bilateral exchange between Seychelles and South Africa.

Henceforth, the delegation’s main purpose in the country is to assess the local fisheries sector to find where they can better help Seychelles in five key areas: research and management, aquaculture, post-harvest, fish trade as well as monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS).

“We expect to build a partnership with them to improve our capacities in certain areas such as in research. For instance we hope to establish cooperation with Rhodes University [in South Africa] so that our research officers at the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) can benefit from courses or research work,” PS Talma further explained.

From the upcoming MoU, Seychelles is also expected to gain support and technical assistance for post-harvest and aquaculture, two key areas which will bring value-added contribution to the fisheries sector.

“Seychelles is trying to develop these sub-sectors. The number of post-harvest products we are exporting for instance has remained more or less stagnant and we want to change this.”

The study tour kicked off yesterday morning whereby the delegation met up with PS Talma for a morning meeting, and the tour will continue with site visits at the SFA and various other fisheries related facilities over the next two days.