European Union officials have negotiated a new licensing deal with the islands’ government. It is told that fisheries are key source of foreign exchange for the Seychelles’ heavily indebted economy. Disagreement over licence renewal terms led to EU vessels being suspended from fishing in the archipelago’s waters.
Veronique Herminie, principal secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources, informed that the European Commission will pay 9 million euros in licence fees for the operations of 40 vessels in our waters over the next year. She added that the Commission would pay 1.7 million euros in compensation for excess catches during 2006 and 2007. According to the Seychelles Fishing Authority the country wanted to earn more than 10 percent of the resource’s value through the licence fee, rather than the current 3-to-5 percent.
As a result of this agreement France and Spain both base purse-seine net fleets which handles about 350,000 tonnes of tuna a year, resumed fishing on Sunday. Pierre Amilhat, the Commission’s director-general for international affairs and marketing, told that the tuna fishing deal can be profitable for both the nations.
