Plans To Preserve Sharks For Eco-Tourism
Seychelles is looking at ways to protect sharks for eco-tourism. At a recent conference held here at the Plantation Club, experts from 40 countries agreed that sharks, usually feared as man-eaters, could be more valuable alive than dead. It is felt that watching sharks, like whales could bring in more money than fishing them.
Young sharks make delicious chutney or curry and is part of the Creole cuisine. Bigger sharks are however hunted more for their fins than their meat. The fins are exported to Asia where they fetch premium prices and are viewed as both a culinary delight and aphrodisiac.
Some ten years ago, the Seychelles Government banned the use of shark nets, claiming this was to protect turtles and dolphins. Local fishermen however argued that turtles and dolphins, which are protected species, are also caught in other nets, such as those used by purse seiners.
Last year, a ban on shark fining by foreign vessels operating in Seychelles’ waters was put in place. Shark fining is often seen as a wasteful and often cruel practice of slicing off the valuable fins, often from living sharks and dumping the rest of the creatures into the sea to face a slow and certain death.
It is claimed that the shark population in Seychelles has dropped by 90% over the past 50 years. Conservationists however caution that the ban will be difficult to enforce as sharks are mainly caught by long-liners as by-catch and such vessels rarely call at Port Victoria for monitoring.
Some man-eating sharks, notably the hammerhead and tiger sharks prowl Seychelles waters and are occasionally caught in nets around our coasts. The Great white shark, also known as “ White Death” which strike terror in Australian and South African waters are however virtually unknown here. Shark attacks are rare, though the disappearance of some fishermen in the outer islands, are believed to be linked to predatory sharks.
