Environmental Networking Platform for Children and Youth by SAMSUNG E&A
Stay connected with Eco-generation :
| Share 
| 
- Home >
- Our Actions >
- Ambassador report
4
Comments
IOTC - FISHERIES INDUSTRY |
|---|
|
Seychelles, depends highly on its Tourism Industry and Fisheries Industries - we export our tuna.
Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) is an inter-government organisation responsible for the management of tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean. Its headquarters is located in Victoria, Seychelles. The main stocks being exploited by large-scale on the high seas and in the EEZ of Seychelles: - Bigeye Tuna (Thunnus obesus) which is being considered as threatened world wide by IUCN. - Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) considered as Near Threatened worldwide by the IUCN. - Southern Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) - considered as Critically Endangered After fishing all these, they are brought to the factory and are cleaned, froze, boiled and canned. They are then exported to other parts of the world in huge containers. I greatly feel that they are fishing too many! More can be learnt about their stock summary click here And the by-catch - such as the critically endangered sharks & turtles- which needs to be noted that these amazing creatures are sometimes caught on purpose without IOTC knowing and are not recorded by the boat. IOTC does not allow these kinds of action to take place on the vessels - they are not in favour. But how can they control them when they are on sea - "what happens on the boat, stays on the boat" IOTC makes sure that the batch they get from each vessels are recorded correctly and traced through out all the processes until they are canned! SYAH Seychelles gave me the chance to visit IOTC factory in the Seychelles and was able to experience how the system works from the buying of the fish from the vessels until the very end - where they are canned and packed in the trays and boxes - put in the containers. Though it seemed awesome with all the machines and workers (IOTC and Seybrew are basically the only two major factories in the Seychelles) I felt kind of sad and to me it felt like cruelty. Taking all these fish from their homes - oceans and putting them in cans - exporting them for money. It all seems so wrong to me. Long time ago, we are depended ONLY on local fishermen practicing safe fishing techniques the amount they fished was enough for all of us to live with - enough to eat. The fishermen benefited because all their fish was sold and none was thrown away like they do now. People have canned tunas and frozen fish sold in shops and they do not buy the fresh fish from fishermen because the fishermen are greatly dependent on their sale, they tend to raise the price, so that the little they sell would be enough to cover their daily cost - but obviously with the increase in price of the fish, local people will switch into buying the cheaper frozen ones and thus no sale is made by the fishermen which now worsens the situation. The advantage of exporting the canned tunas goes to the Seychelles itself higher income for the country and tends to help with our trade deficit and it also becomes an advantage for the landlock countries because they do not have the facilities to go fishing like Seychellois do, they do not have contact with the ocean!! This report was just to open my mind to all the wonderful and hardworking ambassadors. I've read most of your articles and I love what you are doing, its great to have people like all of you in the world!
|
|
|
|
|
Previous : 36.5 Exhibition at the Design ...
4 Comments
Thank you for the wonderful comments guys (& young lady). About the aquaculture, Seychelles now plan to upgrade - Blue Economy - now. They plan to have about 10 aqua-farms or something like that.
But most people do not agree with it. I don't agree with it. I think they plan on using the waste products of IOTC (the bad fish remains) to make pellets food for the fish which will be kept in the farm. But aquaculture farms doesn't bring much advantage like you may think. It actually affects it more. If we could only manage our resources in the right way - everything would work out fine.
Posted 02-06-2015 12:48
Dear Shafira, I appreciate your views regarding the massive export of tuna and other similar species for monetary value and it involves some sort of cruelty. But sustainable aquaculture can be practiced which meets the need of people and also take care of conservation of the species. I am hopeful the government takes institutionalized effort to safeguard the rights and economy of local fisherman.
Thank you fro sharing dear Shafira :)
Posted 01-06-2015 22:43
It's sad to note that people are using unfair means to catch the endangered sharks and turtles and that too off the record. Your report indicates that far too many fishes are being caught than demand which is like over exploitation. On the other hand , poor fishernan is unable to sell his fresh fish. Sad indeed. Government should put stricter controls in place to ensure sustainable fishery.
You got a chance to visit IOTC factory and learnt about the whole process-WOW that's so nice and must have been a great learning experience .
Thanks for the vivid report.
Posted 01-06-2015 03:22
Laws of demand and supply works in every case.
Its upsetting to know consumers preference over frozen fish to fresh fishes later being more healthier.
thanks for the Iotc fisheries industry. report Shafira.
And like Seychelles, Tourisim is the backbone of the Nepal after agriculture. Mountains, natural wonders and Hindu and Buddhist temples/stupas being major attractions.
Posted 31-05-2015 13:14