New minister visits ice producing plants for fishermen |13 March 2015

The Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture Wallace Cosgrow has visited ice producing facilities at Anse à la Mouche, Anse Royale and Providence to see for himself if they are functioning well and meeting the needs of fishermen.

The visit forms part of Minister Cosgrow’s familiarisation tours of the different departments, units and facilities which fall under his ministry.
The minister was accompanied on the visit by key officials from the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) as well as from his ministry.

The ice plants, which were built with funding from the Japanese government are operated by the SFA and their aim is to produce ice for local fishermen.
Minister Cosgrow’s visit started at the Anse à la Mouche ice plant which was built in 1995 and refurbished in 2005, again through funding from Japan, which increased its daily capacity of 2.5 tonnes to a new total of 3.5 tonnes.

At Anse à la Mouche Minister Cosgrow and his delegation also talked to some fishermen who had come to replenish their ice stocks.
After visiting the Anse Royale ice plant Minister Cosgrow also interacted with some fishermen near the Kaz Kreol Restaurant. The Anse Royale ice plant was opened in 2010 and it can produce up to five tonnes of ice per day.

The Providence Zone 6 ice plant, the last leg of Minister Cosgrow’s visit, produces around 10 tonnes of ice per day and it started operations  in 2010.
During the guided tour, Minister Cosgrow heard and took note of all the different complaints from fishermen who depend on these facilities.

Among the complaints are that the  plants are not  producing to their capacity,  they are not  being properly maintained and there are cases where  fishermen are not able to go fishing for the simple reason that they are not able to replenish their ice stock from any of the plants.

Sometimes fishermen, who usually buy ice at Anse à la Mouche, have to go to Anse Royale or Providence Zone 6 or vice versa.

“Ice is an important element that fishermen need and as the plants  are not producing to their maximum because of their age, we will have to look at these facilities, see what can be done to  increase production, put in place a good maintenance schedule and probably order new plants to meet the country’s  increasing demand for ice,” Minister Cosgrow pointed out.
Today, Minister Cosgrow is expected to visit the ice plant situated at Bel Ombre.