GIF seeks to reduce artisanal fishing impact on threatened species |09 May 2018

The Green Islands Foundation yesterday brought together a group of fishers to discuss and explore measures that can be adopted to reduce the impact of their artisanal fishing activities on globally threatened fish species.

The meeting that brought together over a dozen fishers was held at the Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) conference room. It was part of a project entitled ‘The development of co-management plan designed by fishers to minimise the impact of Seychelles artisanal fishery on threatened species’ which started in July 2016, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Conservation International Japan under the GEF-Satoyama initiative.

The GEF-Satoyama project aims to achieve societies in harmony with nature, with sustainable primary production sector based on traditional and modern wisdom, and making significant contributions to global targets for conservation of biological diversity.

Wilna Accouche, the general manager of Green Island Foundation, led the meeting during which there were different presentations, while John Nevill, consultant and fisheries expert, gave anoverview of the GEF-Satoyama project.

Information collected during an intensive survey of the artisanal catch in 2017 at seven key strategic landing sites and points of sales in Mahé were shared with the fishers to get agreement on threatened species management measures which will be proposed to the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) for formulation under the 2014 Fisheries Act.

This bottom-up approach to fisheries management is new to Seychelles and GIF hopes that through successful implementation of this project, fishermen will be able to show that fisher-led management of threatened species fish stocks can be done.

The project fits in the country's blue economy strategy to reduce pressure on fish stocks and promote sustainable management of artisanal fishing. It will eventually result in improved site-level conservation status of various threatened species and contribute to a more diverse, resilient and productive marine ecosystem on the Mahé plateau.

This project is conducted by Green Islands Foundation in partnership with Environment Seychelles, Roche Caïman Fishermen Association, Bel Ombre Fishermen Association, Fishermen Boat Owners Association, Seychelles Fishing Authority and fishermen around Mahe.

An overview of the GEF Satoyama project can be found on http://gefsatoyama.net/subgrantprojects/