Legal and Institutional Aspects of Fisheries Management And
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Indian Ocean Programme IOP/TFJCH/79/30 Teohnioal Report No. 30 (re~trioted) LEGAL AND INST!f.rtJTIONAL ASPFJCTS OF F'ISHERIES MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN 'I'ffE EXCWSIVE FJCONOMIC ZONE OF THE RTfillUBLIC OF SEYCHELLJl-:S by Michel Savini with the assistance of Barry Hart Dubner Conaultants to the Indian Ooean Programme Under the Direction of the FAO Legislation Branch FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNI'l'.liID NATIONS UNITJ!ID NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Rome, 1979 ii employed and the preBenh:Hon of ·bhiu publication do not imply the erp1'e1uiion of rmy opinion wahower on the plil:rt of ·the Food and 11,gt'ioulture Org&U.Htion of the Uni't;ml Me/Gioi::m 01:m.00rning th@ legal ErtatWJ of rmy uouil'h'y u 'H.1r1'i ·t ory 1 oi ty or area or of it Iii ~•u'Ghori ti4'.HJ 1 or o@n00l':ning the dslimi tat ion of H&i f:t'otrtiei's ©1' b•'ru!lda:daB. Savini, M. & BoHo Dubner ( 1979) .'l'u()h0He1~~.I.122:~5~:1l .. oc~n_E!.'~arllll'1e, (3): 94 P• L8gl1i.and.. irwtitutional aspecj;s of fisheries awl developm~nt in 'Ghe lllxolusive ~"oonowic: zonc3 of ·tho('J Rapublio of Seyohelle<1 Irrte:f·national agreements. Fishery "t'(e u;u1 nt ions" Fishery· management. Fishery development. Fishery· organizationse St'lyclrnlles 111 11'~ oop·,r,;•igrrt i10. 'Ghis book ilB veia·ted in thei Food and Agricmltu.re Organization of the Uni'la:nl Natio111t1. '.l'he book no·\ l)s reproduoed9 in ~In.oh or in pe~rl 1 by rmy method or wi'tlrntrt written from the oopy:t'ight hold.er. Application for such P"'':rn.Lwn•.n• 1 wi'l;h a crtatemant of t,'"e purpose and ":rla:i:tt of th0 raproduoticm. d®sired, r1l10uld h<3 udrrreeeed. ·to ,Ghe Direotc:r, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture ill:f the Uni'l;@d NationB.1:, Vie. dell@ T®rma di C~.raoalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. @) FAD 1979 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS page INTRODUCTION " " 1 Background information " ., " 1 Terms of reference " .. " .. .. 2 REVIEW OF EXISTING AGREENENTS, LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF FISHERIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SEYCHELLES 3 International agreements 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 .. 1 " .. " " " " " " " " " " " Constitutional provisions of relevance to fisheries " 0 10 202 " " " " " " " .. Legislation of relevance to fisheries 0 0 0 0 0 @ 10 2.3 .. " " .. .. " • .. " .. Institutions involved in the fisheries sector @ 24 204 .. " " " " " " " " " " COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 25 International agreements ., " " " ., " 0 " " " 0 • 0 0 0 " ., " " " 0 " 25 Domestic legislation " " " .. 0 ., " " .. 0 " ., " " ... ., " o ., " 0 • 0 " 28 THE ESTABLISIDllENT OF m'ATE-OWNED COMMERCIAL FISHING OPERATIONS 38 APPENDICES A draft Decree for the Control of Foreign Fishing Vessels 40 B., Draft Foreign Fishing Vessels Regulations 48 A draft Fisheries Decree 57 66 Draft Fisheries Regulations ., " " 0 .. " 0 " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " Islands of the Seychelles Archipelago Schedule I of the Constitution e 0 0 0 o 0 " " e 0 e 0 0 0 e •• " " 0 e 78 Draft Decree for the Establishment of the Seychelles Tuna Fisheries Development Corporation e e e 0 • e 0 " 0 e 0 e e 0 e e • e 80 G., Draft agreements relating to the operations of the Seychelles Tuna Fisheries Development Company e " e " 0 0 e ., e e " • e e 0 " ., 84 - 1 10 INTRODUOI1ION The Republic of "vhe Seychelles consists of 92 islands Jyi[J.g in the Indian Ocean between 30 South &1d 110 South latitude, and 46° East and 57° East longitudee The main island of Mah~ is 930 km from Malagasy, 1 590 km from Mombasa (Kenya,) and 2 18o km from Bombay (India)@ The islands have a land area of 444 square kilometres,, Since the entry into force of the Maritime Zones Act (1 August 1977) 9 the Republic claims sovereign rights for the purpose of exploration, exploitation;conservatim1 and management of all resources within a two hundred miles exclusive economic zone which covers some 700 OOO square kilo me·tres0 It also claims such rights over a part of the continental shelf of Saya de Malha which la,ys ou·tside the two hundred miles limi't in the southeastern part of the archipelago,, According to the 1977 census, the total population is presently 62 OOO of which 88% live on Mah~, 7% on Pra.slin 9 3% on La Digue and 2!1/o on the other islands (mainly on Silhouette, Denis, Darros, Farquhar, Asumption and F'r~gate),, .All other islands have less than 50 inhabitants or have no permanent population., The countr-y became independent on 29 June 1976 after being administered for 44 years by France (177(}-1814) and for 162 years by U,,K., (1814-1976)., Despite this, the culture of "che islands remains more French than British., The predominel'l.t language is creole which is French-based hut with ma.rzy words and constructions derived from Ehglish, Arabic and African languages., Since the entry into force of the Constitution (.Amendment) Act, 1976, the official languages of the Republic are English and French., English remains de facto the only working language in ·!;he public administration., The Government Gazette IS 'fO'r"the moment published only in that language &1d the bulk of the laws in force are drafted along British s·f;a~de,rds., However, the French criminal code is still in force and the new civil code replacing since 1975 the French one has retained a good proportion of the rules included in ·the latter., The Interpreta:tion and General Provisions Act, 1976, stipulates that when terms or expressions of French law are used in an Act, they must he interpreted in e,ocordanoe with Fre110h law., Fish has always been by fa.:t' the main source of animal protein for the Seychellois,, The consumption of fish per capita is among the highest in the world (85 kg/yea:r),, The present landings make the island just self sufficient and represent about 5 500 tons each year,, Up to now, fishing has not represented an important factor for Seyohelle's economic growth., The Seychelles Development Plan, 1973, stressed the need to protect the environment, to develop ·the tourist industry and to improve infrastructure, hut did not even mention the fishing industry., Between 1971 and 1977 9 the manpower employed in fishery increased from 602 to 836. This is a low rate when compared with those of tourism and related industries (hotels: 174 ·to 2 158; domestic services: 1 749 to 2 595). Shortly after independence, and in particular since the entry into force of the Maritime Zones Act 1 ·~he Government agreed upon a diversification of the economy and decided to develop the fishery sector. In 1978 a large soale tuna industry project was launched with French and Bri tiGh assistance. By ·bhe end of 1979 four Seychelles tuna vessels are expected to be in operation. It is expected that they will land 41000 tons of tuna per year which will be exported. 'I'be Government has e,lso decided to nee;otiate with foreign oountries wHh a view to allowing ·!;hem fishing rights against the payment of fees or other forms of compensation. It is understood that such rights will be granted 011ly to a few vessels until a more precise assessment of the magnitude of the stocks and their potential annual yields is available., A"°cording to a recent report from the Indian Ocean Programme· (IOP) :JJ, the order of magnitude of potential annual yield estimates might fall within the following ranges: (i) demersal, reef 00 """""" """ ""@" ""@"" 0 "• 5 OOO - 40 OOO tons per annum demersal, trawl ""'"@"""""""@""'"'"'""""""" 5 OOO - 15 OOO tons per annum (ii) small pelagics """""""."""""""""""••"" 40 OOO - 8o OOO tons per annum (iii) large pelagics (skipjack eto.,) """""@""" 20 OOO - 30 OOO tons per annum 'j/ Indian Ocean Programme, Teclmice.l Report No., 20, Rome, 1978 2 noted ·l;he,·1; ·l;he CfoW3Y'Kim~mt of Seyoheller4 oonsicleI"S ·l;he:l; ·!;he d($Velo1>= i:actmJ'G:i.'.Y' if> th0 la.1'gti1rl; £Wltl nws'f; oon-l;e,in~ia. in ·197&0 ·19820 In J'ci,:rmJ::J,r·s ·1978v JGhe Gove:r·nme:rrt of ·the Republic of SeyohelleB requeS"i;ml fJ.ilvioe fl"om FAO ,Hi. hm·J to dc:3al t'1Hh e,p11lioaHer.as f:rom foreig1:1 oonoer·ns ewl govert1men·!;s i:ri X'e1£d;ion ·~o fishing ~tol;ivi:l;iEiH 1·J:i·thin ·!;he Seychelles Exclusive JTioonomio Zone0 An advisol"Y mission~ oonsif3'ting of Hoben:(; Lo ~ Lmulerw a:na, Michel Jo Savini~ Legal Advise1·, '[email protected] sent to Vio·l;o:da f:t"om ~) 2 iVfa:t·oh "1978 t·rith the following ter'ms of J:'eferenoe: 11 ·to examine the e:idsting fisher·yt : l.·~ :xvnilu:ble cli::d;e, J:'eg<3,rding resom'oes~ ·i;he germeme lega,l aspeds of ·hhe :m:x:t~mded Economic :t.one n:rtd to C:<'1nsult 1·1Hh e,nd etlvise ·l;he Gov0Fnr11ent on the ht:indling of applicEd;ion of forei.g:n go·v·er'tllnGrrl;ri and oornpa.ni<~s ·t;o fish wi,r,hin the national watex·s of "r,he SeyoheJJ.esn" One impor·hexrb of f'ishe:i:•ies developrne1rl; which came to light d.lU'ing discussions betwec~.n ·t;he oompe-!;c::m·t auJ;J:10r·Hies e.nd th«i mh:sion f:lnd which~ in ·!;he vi(3W of ·the Gover·nmen·!; ~ need.ect ·t;o "be ·l;ackl€Kl 9 war~ ·the HE)ed fol' an o.deq:ua;l;e lege,l fr•e.mework which could respond 1x();y- :iweds poso(l by the fu·l;u:r•e d,Ei11elopme1rb of f'isheriE1r:1" Th<3refo:t'(~~ ·the Gover·nmGJ:rl; [;ho Hssis·l;a.noe of ·(;wo legal expe:p·ts (one with :in:bernt:1·ticm~t1 l<\W ) '-1i:ll'.