The Seychelles Fisheries Authority (SFA) has updated its aquaculture policies to attract more investors. These amendments, already approved by the Council of Ministers, have started to take shape following issues raised by local partners last year, who felt that a specific policy aimed at capacity building was needed.
According to the Seychelles News Agency (SNA), there are seven principles on which these innovations have been based. Thus, the fundamental pillars have been good governance, environmental sustainability, coordinated support for the development of the sector, investment guidelines, marketing, human capital development, and continuous research and development.
Aubrey Lesperance, the head of SFA's aquaculture department, informed the press room that the initiative is presently concentrating on finfish, a species known for being located about 50 kilometers from land and at significant depths. He specifically emphasized the promotion of "large investments" in these species.
Seychelles Fisheries Minister Jean-François Ferrari stated that with these changes: "it is much more sustainable to have larger farms." In addition, as ANS also gathered, this would give "better economic benefits, as well as the yield of fish that we will be able to export."
However, Seychelles' journey to promote aquaculture started much earlier.
The Cabinet approved the first Seychelles National Aquaculture Policy 2018-2022 as early as 2018, and in 2020, they issued the first Aquaculture Regulations. It is currently in the sixth year of implementation of its current policy.
This year, youth training has been incorporated as an additional novelty. One of the ways to create jobs in the sector and diversify the economy. This last part is related to the fishing reality of Seychelles, which has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 1.4 million square kilometers, making it the second largest contributor to its economy.
"I know that on the fishing side, our fishermen are getting older and we are struggling to get them to join the sector, we are now giving the younger generation a new one in aquaculture and there are many scientific aspects to the sector that may interest them," added Lesperance.