Cascade and Pointe Larue fishers will start using a new market starting next week following the official opening yesterday of the Cascade fisheries facilities.
The project at a cost of approximately R12 million, was funded under the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Seychelles.
It was the European Union ambassador, Vincent Degert, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, who unveiled the commemorative plaque to officially open the new and modern facilities, which is located in the same area as the previous market.
In his opening remarks, Minister Radegonde speaking on behalf of the minister for fisheries, Jean-François Ferrari who is away on official mission, thanked the EU for its continued support.
He said it was another example of the many direct benefits that the fishing agreement provides to the community, after the La Retraite and Glacis fisheries facilities, which have been completed, and the Anse Aux Pins and Baie Ste Anne ones, which are under construction.
“This will not only enable great improvement in the hygiene and maintaining of the quality of the fish sold by the fishers, but it will also help to improve the quality of life of all employed here, where they can moor their boats safely, have a secure place to keep their engines and fishing gears, and a purpose-built area for them to sell, and the community to purchase their catch,” said Minister Radegonde.
The project was initiated by the Seychelles Fishing Authority in 2019 and has been done in two phases. The first phase, which included the dredging of the lagoon, reclamation works for the expansion of the quay, construction of rock armouring and slip way, was completed in March 2020.
The total cost was R7.6 million, out of which R5.3 million was partly funded by the EU and 30 percent of that total cost was contributed by the United Concrete Products Seychelles Compan (UCPS), as part of its corporate social responsibility.
In the second phase which started in August last year, other facilities were added and these are twelve (12) gear stores, a fish market and its fish cleaning area, a landing shed, a fish shop, three gear shops that will be selling fishing equipment, as well as two offices, one of which will be managed by the Seychelles Fishing Authority.
The second phase of the project was at a cost of R5.2 million.
In his remarks Ambassador Degert congratulated Seychelles for having developed its fishing industry over the years, saying it has become one of the strongest fishing nations in the world, and one of the first fish export nations in the world.
He congratulated the country for this achievement and added that the EU was also very pleased to have this fishing agreements with Seychelles for so many years, a partnership which he described as a win-win for both parties. Under the partnership, Seychelles is benefitting with over 58 million euros over a six-year period.
“Exporting to the rest of the world is important, but taking care of the local communities is even more important in a sense, and we are not forgetting to mention that in our agreement. We want also the local communities, the artisanal fisheries , the semi-artisanal fisheries to have all the opportunities, all the infrastructure actually to do what they have to do, to go out safely on the sea, bring back the fish here in good condition,” said Mr Degert.
The Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) will be meeting with the members of the National Assembly and district administrators of Cascade and Pointe Larue next week as well as the Fisherman’s association to agree on how best to manage the facilities.
According to the deputy chief executive of the SFA, Ashik Hassan, they want to reach a consensus with the partners.
“We want to give ownership to the Fisherman’s association and of course SFA will remain as the landlord, but we want to work in partnership with them,” he said.
With regard to the temporary fish market that was built on a private property nearby, to accommodate the fishermen while construction was under way, Mr Hassan said they will decide on the matter at a later date.
SFA is now waiting for the occupation permit before the fishers can start using the facilities but according to Mr Hassan, this could be possible as from the beginning of next week.
“They will be getting a partial occupancy this week where they can start using the fish market only, and later on the other offices will be available to them.”
Speaking on behalf of the Cascade Fishermen and Boat Owners Association, its chairperson, Steve Payet, thanked the EU and the government for the project and their continued support.
“Our beauty and resources are in our sea, ocean and people. It is therefore equally important to create infrastructure to complement the various activities pertaining to our fishing industry,” said Mr Payet, adding it was his hope that the association would continue to work with key stakeholders and partner in the sector “to ensure and uphold our commitment for the betterment of our fishing community, our district and our new facility”.
Some forty fishermen, the majority from Cascade, will be making use of the new fishing facilities.
SFA said other that the ongoing fisheries facilities being built in Anse Aux Pins and Baie Ste Anne Praslin, it plans to have a similar project in English River and Anse à la Mouche.
Yesterday’s ceremony was attended by an EU delegation presently in Seychelles for their annual EU meeting, MNAs and DAs of the two districts, SFA board members, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Fisheries and the SFA.
Earlier in the day the EU delegation, led by Ambassador Degert, had paid a courtesy call on President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House. Also present was Vice President Ahmed Afif, Minister Sylvestre Radegonde and the Foreign Affairs principal secretary, Vivienne Fock-Tave.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the official opening ceremony yesterday.
Source: Seychelles Nation