SEYCHELLES FAD WATCH PROGRAMME: A WORLD FIRST

August 12, 2016

Introduction

Since the early 1990’s FADs have become an increasingly important component of the industrial purse seine fishing fleet operating throughout the Seychelles EEZ and the wider Indian Ocean basin. It is estimated that there are now 10,000 FAD deployments annually in the Indian Ocean. A third of all tuna catches by purse seiners in the Indian Ocean are around floating objects. Satellite tracking of FADs has probably been the most important technological advancement of purse seiner efficiency in the last two decades. The increased use of FADs has been responsible for a significant increase in the amount of tuna caught, particularly skipjack tuna (Indian Ocean catches of skipjack tuna around floating objects more than doubled between 1991 and 2006).

The Problem

FADs have a number of well documented issues. Catches around FADs are on average made up of smaller (younger) target fish. This could have damaging long term consequences for these fish stocks. There is also the problem of by-catch of non-target species associated with seine netting around FADs, as well as marine creatures getting entangled in the FAD itself. A problem, that is so far relatively undocumented, is the environmental impact that FADs can have when they are either intentionally discarded or become lost and drift onto coral reefs and islands. This is a situation that is becoming increasingly common on the reefs and islets especially in the outer islands of the Seychelles. Fortunately, some concerned organisations are coming together to solve part of this problem.

Solving part of the problem: welcoming the Seychelles FAD WATCH Programme.

FAD WATCH is a collaborative programme between several organisations with the aim of preventing and mitigating Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) beachings across islands in Seychelles where the Island Conservation Society (ICS) has a presence. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on the 5th July 2016 by the Spanish Purse Seining Fishing Fleet (OPAGAC/AGAC1), Island Conservation Society (ICS), Islands Development Company (IDC) and Seychelles Fishing Authority. And the whole process has gained substantial support by the Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy over the past 9 months of negotiations.

How will the programme work?

Under this programme, ICS will be responsible for the implementation and overall coordination of activities. A automated alert system will be setup and inform ICS whenever a FAD arrives within 5 nautical miles of any atoll where ICS has a permanent presence, and provide GPS co-ordinates, trajectory and estimated projected time of beaching. This will allow ICS staff time to plan and intercept these FADs before beaching occurs, damages reefs and/or impacts on key marine fauna. ICS teams will still need to remove FADs from reefs and beaches on all islands where teams are present which are not intercepted as they will not be detected using this system since they will belong to other fishing companies. IDC will provide logistical support to ICS in the removal and storage of the FADs awaiting collection by the fishing vessels. As much as possible the FADs that are collected will be recycled and reused by the fishing companies. This programme is made possible through the financial contribution from OPAGAC/AGAC. ICS will also be working closely with the fishing companies to provide suggestions on how to improve the design of eco-friendly FADs.

This is a world first. It is the first time such an arrangement has been made between a fishing company working in close relationship with an environmental NGO, and Government.

We are hoping that this will encourage other purse seining companies and other islands that are impacted by FADs to join this effort in the future.

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