The Seychelles has officially launched its first report to the Fisheries Transparency Initiative, making it the first country in the world to submit such a report.
This is seen as a major milestone for the Seychelles efforts to ensure that fisheries are environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially equitable.
According to the Fisheries Transparency Initiative, coastal nations, such as the Seychelles face a complex challenge to ensure that fishing and fish trade contribute to income, employment, food and nutrition security, while also conserving marine biodiversity for future generations.
While there are many aspects to achieve sustainable fisheries, the public availability of credible information is critical.
Despite having a land mass of just 455 square kilometres, the Seychelles is a large ocean state and major player in the global tuna industry, with an Exclusive Economic Zone of 1.37 million square kilometres.
The purpose of the report is to summarise key status information on the Seychelles’ fisheries sector to increase public understanding and appreciation of Seychelles’ fisheries sector, to assess the Seychelles’ level of compliance against the twelve transparency requirements of the FiTI Standard, and to provide recommendations to the Seychelles’ national authorities on how the publication of information in the public domain, such as on government websites, can be further improved.
The report makes known a range of previously unpublished information on various topics, including foreign fishing access agreements, stock information, payment and catch data from large- and small-scale fishing vessels, as well as fishing subsidies.
