Close the army, let’s have performing Coastguards

Last week the “ The Weekly” carried an article calling for the closing down of the army, which is an expensive institution making no contribution to the national economy.

This week we wish to urge the authorities to, however, strengthen the Coastguards as this is necessary to safeguard our exclusive economic zone ( EEZ). The two hundred nautical miles around each of the 115 islands add up to almost a million square miles of EEZ to patrol.

As tuna catches fall, there is a pressing need to stop the increasing illegal poaching in our part of the world. According to experts, instances of unlicenced and unreported fishing , make up between 10% and 20% of fishing activiy in the Indian Ocean. The poachers, from Sri Lanka, Japan and elsewhere, are after tuna, but also catch other species, such as sharks and dolphins.

The Ministry of defence’s 2006 expenditure was R81 million , several millions above the budget allocation But, it is not known what percentage went to the Coastguards.

The Coastguards, which previously was called the “ People’s Navy”, once had many patrol boats. In the 1980’s several Japanese vessels caught poaching were apprehended, escorted to Port Victoria , when the owners were heavily fined by the courts and both vessels and catches seized..

The patrol vessels were mostly gift from France and the USSR. The first ship "Topaz” was donated by France soon after the 1977 coup. But two years later, the French captain and trainers were disembarked and expelled after another adviser, Jacques Chevalreau, had been accused ”of subversive activities.”

Then followed other vessels, donated by the Soviet Union, such as the “ Constant”, "Zoroaster” “Fortune”, fitted with radar detection and advanced communication systems.

Though the vessels were mostly named after fishing banks,.an important mission of the navy was also to guard against invasion by foreign mercenaries.

But not all were from benefactors. The “ Andromache” for instance was built in Italy and Seychelles paid R 30 million or $8 million for the vessel, which for several years was the flagship of the fleet. It was the ship that took visiting V.I.Ps for a cruise to display Seychelles’ ability in maritime surveillance. Less than two decades later, it appears that it is no lomger seaworthy.

Nearly all these vessels are now not operational. The last time the navy or Coastguards confronted a major foreign vessel fishing illegally was in 1994, when a Spanish ship had entered the inshore waters of an outer island, in a zone reserved for local fishermen. The matter was later settled out of court.

The navy has also taken part in intercepting some foreign vessels, such as the “ Malo”, suspected of transporting arms to Somalia. The “ Malo” was later seized and re-sold.

Some years ago, another vessel called the “ Gemini”, also Italian-made, was imported. The official cost was said to be only R12 million”, but the luxury suggests a higher price tag. It was said to be a coastguard vessel , but it had all the sumptuousness of a cabin cruiser designed for the bliss of the high-living. It has been spotted in La Digue and is often used for cruising to some IDC islands than for patrolling against unlawful fishers.

Some whale-boats received from the US a few years ago are small, with very limited range and ineffective for patrolling our EEZ.

As it is , the best performing vessel is probably “ Topaz 11” formerly the INS Tarmugli , said to be a gift from India. It is a fast attack vessel which India has donated as part of efforts to monitor the ocean off Africa’s east coast and balance the Chinese presence in the warm waters.