Seychelles among panellists at US conference on fisheries

Seychelles among panellists at US conference on fisheries

21-June-2014
Seychelles was among the panellists of the ‘sustainable fisheries’ component of the ‘Our Oceans’ conference hosted by the US secretary of state Minister Sinon with FAO director general José Graziano da Silva John Kerry on June 16 at the State Department in Washington DC.

It was Minister Peter Sinon, the Seychelles Minister for Natural Resources, who took to the podium to give an overview of Seychelles’ fisheries industry and the Fish-i Africa project.
‘Our Oceans’ conference was officially opened by Mr Kerry.

On the second day a message was transmitted from President Barrack Obama.

The guest of honour who made a special appearance and delivered a speech was actor Leonardo Di Caprio. His speech articulated his experiences with the oceans and its degradation and pledged his commitment to support efforts to preserve and protect the oceans and its natural resources.

He described the inefficient laws and regulations as the Wild West and insisted that there is a lot of work to be done including bold and courageous political leadership to put things right.
He claimed this as the most critical issue of our time.

He took the opportunity to commit another US $7 million to fund the establishment of marine reserves to protect our oceans.

Minister Sinon was accompanied at the conference by Roy Clarisse, the deputy chief executive of the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA).

Fish-i Africa was officially launched in Seychelles by Minister Sinon in December 2012 at the Coral Strand Hotel, Beau Vallon.

The seven countries forming part of the project are Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. The purpose of Fish-i Africa is to coordinate and provide information and intelligence on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and to be able to put a definite stop to this unacceptable practice.

Before arriving in Washington, Minister Sinon was in Rome where he paid courtesy calls on the President of IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), Kanayo F Nwanze, and the director general of FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation), José Graziano da Silva.

With the former, Minister Sinon thanked the President for his last visit to Seychelles and briefed him on the progress of implementation of IFAD's 'CLISSA' project. President Kanayo was also informed of the recent appraisal by the Kuwait Fund for the rehabilitation of the Seychelles Agricultural and Horticultural Training Centre (SAHTC). The meeting also focused on future cooperation between Seychelles and IFAD.

With Mr da Silva, the minister took the opportunity to express the gratitude and appreciation of his personal attendance of the 'Blue Economy Summit' held in United Arab Emirates in January this year. He was informed of the plan for a follow up Summit in January 2015.

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