Tourist toting spear gun fined |27 January 2005

According to Jason Jacquelyn, the legal officer to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the tourist was in the vicinity of the former National Youth Service (NYS) camps when rangers from the Marine Parks Authority (MPA) spotted him with a bulky package wrapped in a towel.

Upon closer inspection MPA ranger Michel Chang-Leng reportedly discovered the spear gun and confiscated the weapon. The man claimed that he had found it on the beach at Port Launay, according to reports.

The officer arrested the tourist for possession of a spear gun within a national park, but with the police unable to assist at the time, he had to be released.
 
The man had apparently come to Seychelles on a private jet and was staying at the Fisherman’s Cove Hotel at Bel Ombre.
Mr Jacquelyn and an accompanying police officer later caught up with the man at his hotel and informed him that he had violated the 1993 Fisheries Regulations, which holds that fishing with a spear gun – or being in possession of a spear gun with the inferred intent to fish – is an offence punishable by a spot fine of R10,000.
 
Despite some initial reluctance, the man paid the full amount to the Seychelles Centre for Marine Research and Technology – Marine Parks Authority, Mr Jacquelyn said.

He indicated that the incident was the first of its kind since he had been working at the ministry.
“The marine park is meant to be enjoyed, not exploited,” Mr Jacquelyn said.

Environment officials also said that in addition to the fact that fishing of any kind is illegal in a marine park, the use of a spear gun in such areas could potentially damage corals.