SPPF IS GIVING AWAY OUR HERITAGE CHEAPLY

Tuna being landed.

EVERTHING that we have over here in Seychelles has been handed down to us as a gift from our creator. The beautiful beaches, which adorn our coastline, the beautiful deep blue sea, which surround our islands, our warm climate and idyllic weather, the birds in the sky and the millions of fish swimming in the sea around our islands, are all part of our heritage.

Yellowfin tunaIn exploiting these riches we must do it with care in order to get as much as we can out of it and at the same time making sure that the generation to come will also benefit from it. However, this seems not to be a priority for the people in the Ministry of Fisheries or at the SFA.

They are selling our resources cheaply. An example of that is the deal with the European Union to fish for tuna in our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). A fee of just over 5 million euros has been agreed between the EU and the local fisheries authority. If one was to divide the Euro 5,355,000 which we are getting for allowing 52 EU boats, yes 52 (fifty-two) to fish in our waters by the “supposedly” 63,000 tons of fish (which no one controls), Seychelles ends up earning a mere Euro 85 for a ton of prime tuna! That is only Euro 85 for 1,000 kilos of fish.  This is ludicrous and here we have Rondolph Payet telling our local fishermen and exporters that they cannot fish bourgeois because of over-exploitation!

 Who is getting exploited here? The EU controls our fisheries and instead of us catching our own fish to export for at least Euro 10 per kilo, we end up selling our souls for Euro 85 a ton!  And they are destroying our tuna stock as well as other fish stock in the process!  Absolute madness!!!!!  This is clear EU exploitation of Seychelles condoned by our own government. The Colonisation days are not over yet. A new form has just begun and is quickly taking shape only this time it is by the EU for our fish; Arabs, Russians and South Africans are grabbing every inch of our soil and boulders in sight...

“Sesel pou Seselwa??”

May 16, 2008
Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles