Increased illegal fishing by use of fishing nets reported |03 February 2021
Mr Louys and Mr Lucas during the interview yesterday
As the regulatory authority for the fisheries industry, the Seychelles Fishing Authority has received increased reports of illegal fishing by use of fishing nets.
Monitoring, control and surveillance manager at Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) Johnny Louys yesterday explained that fishing nets can only be used to catch three marine species: shrimps, mackerels and sardines.
However, SFA notes an increase of fish species such as rabbit fish groupers (kordonnyen), trevalies (karang) and green humphead parrotfish (filanbaz) that are being caught near the coastline using this method.
“Our concerns in that regards is that it is not a sustainable form of fishing since nets catch a lot of what we call juvenile fish. Additionally, it is prohibited to use nets for these species,” explained Mr Louys.
“We usually see a peak in illegal fishing activities around January and June, and as a result we increase our surveillance to deter these. In recent weeks, we have received various reports that indicate that these activities are increasing at an alarming rate.”
Notable places where these illegal activities have been identified include Glacis and Ste Anne.
“What might be influencing these activities in Glacis, is the extension of the channel by the SFA which resulted with more species of fish frequenting the area. Fishermen are taking this to their advantage and have been catching these fish with nets, particularly karang,” said Mr Louys.
He also reminded members of the public that some areas around Ste Anne are marine protected areas and hence any fishing activities there are considered illegal.
“Right now, the SFA is coming forward and raising awareness that these activities are illegal and we are advising that they stop it immediately.”
SFA is presently working on boosting its surveillance and is deploying its new assets, such as a recently acquired surveillance boat to assist with monitoring.
“We are intensifying our coastal and near-shore surveillance. We also have new technologies like drones that will be deployed to facilitate our work,” added Mr Louys.
The authority’s surveillance plan is targeting places where these activities have been prevalent.
Fishermen caught taking part in these illicit activities can have their licenses revoked and all persons involved in these activities, fishermen or not, face a maximum penalty of R350,000.
On his part, SFA’s chief fisheries officer Vincent Lucas noted that the persons involved in the industry need to practice more sustainable and responsible fishing.
One of the measures being undertaken to achieve this is the introduction of a fisheries management plan.
“We had previously launched the fisheries management plan for the Mahé plateau which included the introduction of soft measures at first, such as minimum size for boats and bag limit, and even stricter measures in the second phase,” said Mr Lucas.
Mr Lucas explained that, at present, there are no limits as to how many fish a person undertaking recreational or sport fishing can bring to shore, which affects fishermen whose livelihoods depend on the sector.
“We cannot think of just today when we see a large group of karang and catch them with nets, even the young ones, with no thought that these juvenile fish have to reproduce so that our children can still benefit from the fishing industry in the future,” he continued.
“We aim to ensure there is more sustainable fishing and the livelihoods of fishermen are secured.”
Additionally, the management plan will put in place a licensing framework to regulate all fishing activities which will come with conditions attached.
“Fishermen will have to come and apply for a license so that we can better establish how many people are involved in certain activities. Our biggest issue in the fisheries industry right now is open access.
These measures will be introduced gradually as SFA conducts various awareness campaigns on the subject.
Elsie Pointe