A chat with Selby Remy, CEO of the Seychelles National Parks Authority |18 July 2018

‘Enforcement of legislation key for future of protected areas’

The management of protected areas in Seychelles is not easy. There are multiple users and people with various interest and needs. Some of these requirements are very passive -- for example a group of artists wanting to be inspired by the nostalgia of Curieuse Island, to more intrusive activities such as dive tours, mass fitness activities and poaching. The protected areas are created primarily for nature conservation, but allows for various activities, but these have to be controlled.

So what is the status of things? How in control are the authorities? In order to understand more we spent some time with the new chief executive of the Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA), Selby Remy, who was very eager to share the state of affairs with us.  

Mr Remy pointed out that while he would offer a generalised view of things, he would only focus on how SNPA will tackle issues in the areas it manages only.

The management of protected areas falls under the responsibilities of various agencies and NGOs but the SNPA manages the most number of parks and also largest combined total area under protection.

Mr Remy admitted that there are problems with enforcement of legislation in protected areas of Seychelles. This stems from a lack of resources (financial and human), a lack of cooperation between agencies, bad planning, and also a lack of prosecuted cases.

Having the police and park rangers actively chasing people across parks in the country will help but alone is not the solution, Mr Remy added.

Each of the parks have their specific problems so the solutions have to be adapted to the specific park, but in general cooperation with the police and legal system can be improved. The time the police take to respond to cases in most parts are considered slow. Prosecutions of cases are as slow resulting in staff generally not trusting our legal framework. Our staff work at the risk of being harassed on the streets and there are even cases of poachers going to their houses, so a system that is responsive and offers adequate cover to enforcement staff is necessary, not only for SNPA but for the country.

Changes will have to take place within organisations managing the parks and also outside, by members of the public. There are problems with the efficiency of SNPA to deliver on its work programmes which include enforcement. This is being addressed, new staff are being recruited, the work schedules are being changed (to include after normal working hours), better spot checks and better communications with parks residents where applicable. These measures will add to the effectiveness of SNPA’s operation.

SNPA is hoping to work closely with the public, they offer extra eyes and the possibility of making them honorary wardens are being explored.

Furthermore the authority will explore innovative ways of patrolling including the use of drones.

Other innovative management practices are being looked at. This may include co-management options; if another organisation is better positioned to manage a park or some aspects of the park then these options will be explored. In this way parks that have not been touched are now going to be the focus for SNPA. Silhouette Marine Park for example will now be the focus of SNPA, it was previously more or less a paper park.

Education and sensitisation is the key to enforcement. If done properly it reduces the need for intensive patrols and dedication of resources to monitor the activities of park users.  For Mr Remy this issue will be addressed comprehensively by SNPA, since the organisation is preparing its communication strategy. 

Mr Remy stressed that the marine parks of Ste Anne and Silhouette will be the area of major focus for SNPA. Silhouette to finally get the marine park managed, Ste Anne on the other hand is one of the marine parks under the most pressure. Issues to be addressed in Ste Anne ranges from actual poaching, excessive noise, speeding by boats and jet skies etc.

This is an overview of the discussions we had with the CEO. Mr Remy confirmed that he will constantly update the public with development within SNPA. He will continue with public meetings but also proposes to go onto the early morning TV show Bonzour Sesel and other programmes to allow members of the public to interact directly with him.

Finally, before we walked out the door, Mr Remy stopped us. “Not all is gloomy,” he said with a smile, “there are a lot of dedicated people in Seychelles wanting to see progress and who really care about our protected areas. Please do not forget to thank them, their efforts are appreciated. SNPA will be coming up with measures to have their contributions dully recognised”.