Category Archives: Seychelles

ponant's cruise ship was the last to call in the Seychelles in March 2020 (Ponant)

PublishedAug 15, 2021 12:30 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Seychelles, which was one of the first nations to announce a total ban on cruise ships in 2020, now intends to reopenin time for the lucrative winter 2021 cruise season.Authorities in the Indian Ocean archipelago, reversed their May 2020 decision banning all cruise ships till 2022saying that cruise ships with a maximum of 300 passengers will be permitted starting in mid-November to dock in Port Victoria and cruise in the country's waters.

In May 2020, the Seychelles drew international attention when the government announced that it had decided to ban all cruise ships for two yearsin an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus. The Seychelles now joins a growing number of countries across North America, the Caribbean, and Europe that are easing restrictions and facilitating cruise lines to resume operations. Asia, including China and Australia, however, continue to delay the restart of operations by large cruise ships. The Seychelles explored reopening the cruise ship industry in March 2021, but the plans were delayed due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The decision to reopen the Seychelles follows the rollout of an ambitious vaccination campaign that has seen the country become one of the highest vaccinated nations in the world. To facilitate the reopening, the governmentestablisheda COVID-19 company and cruise ship checklist to facilitate the safe re-start of operations. The checklist, which was developed in line with the European Maritime Safety Agency and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control guidelines, outlines the duties and authorities of the agencies in Seychelles, the passenger terminal arrangements at all ports of call, the contingencies in case of a COVID-19 outbreak and generally the coordination between cruises and ports in relation to COVID-19.

This is for cruise ship operators to follow in order that the ships adopt minimum safety measures to be implemented in their operations in Seychelles, Alan Renaud, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine Principal Secretary told the Seychelles News Agency.

Tourism is a significant part of the country's economy, making up the second biggest industry in the Seychelles after commercial fishing. Last year, tourism revenues plunged by 61 percent, a loss of $322 million, with tourist arrivals dropping by 70 percent. Before the onset of the pandemic, the Seychelles welcomed 384,204 visitors in 2019, of which 63,442 came from cruise ships,according to the countrys National Bureau of Statistics. The Port of Victoria received 39 cruise ship calls during the 2019/2020 season, with the last vessel permitted to arrive being Ponant's Le Bougainville in March 2020.

Currently, it is anticipated that theIsland Sky, operated by London-based Noble Caledonia, will open the season with calls to four of Seychelles outer islands of Aldabra, Assumption, Farquhar and Cosmoledo. The 4,200 gross ton cruise ship accommodates just 118 passengers.

Historically, the Seychelles also received larger cruise ships, but the government has differed a decision on opening the port more broadly due to ongoing fears over the potential spread of the virus.

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Seychelles to Reopen for Cruise Industry in November - The Maritime Executive

For someone more used to being on the road than cooped up at home, it was bittersweet for Zach Griff when he ended up proposing to Jill Golub near the house she grew up in. Bitter because Mr. Griff, a writer for the travel website the Points Guy, had hopes of planning a far-flung adventure where he would propose to Ms. Golub; sweet because that was where they would end up marrying.

Mr. Griff, 27, and Ms. Golub, 26, met in 2013 as students at the University of Pennsylvania. It didnt take long for Mr. Griff, a Boca Raton, Fla., native, to realize he had found a best friend in Ms. Golub of Mamaroneck, N.Y. He asked for her number days after meeting her at a Hillel orientation event, where students of Jewish background build community.

We would hang out all the time, but we were both just friends and dating other people, Ms. Golub said.

We would eat dinner together in the Hillel dining hall almost every night, Mr. Griff said.

Before his love for Ms. Golub took hold, another labor of love grew for Mr. Griff: traveling. If he wasnt with Ms. Golub, he would spend weekends abroad after finding cheap last-minute airfare deals.

The two would not become a couple until their junior year of college when both attended a friends retreat in South Florida.

A spark had flipped on for us during that trip, Mr. Griff said.

We started dating that weekend and never went back, Ms. Golub said.

After graduation, both moved to Manhattan. Ms. Golub is now finishing a law and M.B.A. program at N.Y.U. And right after college, Mr. Griff took the entrance exam for medical school.

I was ready to be a doctor, he said. It runs in the family, so I didnt think there was anything else to do but be a doctor.

After thinking about medical school and a year spent at an investment consulting firm, Mr. Griff came across an Instagram post about the Points Guy website. They were looking for a travel writer Ms. Golub convinced him to apply. He was hired soon after to write about his adventures, review airlines and airplanes, and provide travel advice. The couple didnt see each other much for a while, but they would make it work. Mr. Griff credits the improvement of in-flight Wi-Fi as a boon for their relationship.

In early 2020, the pandemic grounded international travel. The couple retreated to Ms. Golubs childhood home in Mamaroneck, NY, where they quarantined for nearly six months with her siblings and parents.

The time at home accelerated Mr. Griffs plan to propose to Ms. Golub. During the weekend of July 4, 2020, they went kayaking in a pond behind the home, reaching an abandoned gazebo on the other side. Flowers were everywhere there were also drones to document the occasion. When they returned home as an engaged couple, the whole family was waiting.

Zach and I had talked about getting engaged, but he said it would probably be in the fall since it takes so long to plan, Ms. Golub said. I just believed it. How would I know?

Just steps away from where they became engaged, Mr. Griff and Ms. Golub wed Aug. 1, 2021, in front of some 290 guests in the backyard of Ms. Golubs childhood home. They used her grandfathers Kiddush cup for the blessing of the wine ceremony.

Ms. Golubs paternal grandfather, Aharon Golub, was supposed to be the guest of honor at their wedding, but he died the weekend of July 4, 2021. He was his immediate familys only survivor of the Holocaust, fleeing from the Nazis to the forests of Poland, where he spent years in hiding.

He had the most incredibly positive outlook on life, which is amazing given what he endured, Ms. Golub said. He was an enormous supporter of Zach and I, and he had been really looking forward to this day.

For their honeymoon, the couple visited the Amalfi Coast in Italy, Tanzania, and Seychelles Islands.

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Celebrating Their Love at Home - The New York Times

National Liaison Officers (NLOs) and National Liaison Assistants (NLAs) form the primary contact point between Member States and the IAEA Secretariat for the technical cooperation (TC) programme. NLOs play two key roles: help the IAEA to understand their countrys needs and help their country to understand the IAEA. In July, the IAEA organized a three-day induction workshop to build mutual understanding and further enhance the performance and implementation of the programme by National Liaison Offices in Africa.

The virtual workshop, attended by 24 participants from 18 countries, was designed to inform and guide recently designated NLOs and NLAs, and also to support the exchange of views, experiences and ideas among the national representatives and their counterparts.

This important meeting aims at providing you with a comprehensive overview of the roles, responsibilities and processes related to the management of the TC Programme, including the contributions of the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in your countries, explained Shaukat Abdulrazak, IAEA Director of the TC Division for Africa. Abdulrazak underscored the need for commitment, leadership and strong coordination mechanisms across all aspects of the TC programme and highlighted emerging challenges facing the region that could be addressed through the IAEA-supported application of nuclear technologies. He also stressed the importance of planning, accountability and ownership of the programme by Member States.

The workshop included a review of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the African Unions Agenda 2063, the formulation of Country Programme Frameworks, as well as presentations on finance, capacity building and programme procurement. With IAEA experts, the National Liaison personnel explored applications of nuclear science and technology in energy, food and agriculture, human health, physical and chemical sciences, as well as the work of the Agencys Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT). The legal frameworks and international instruments that ensure the safety and impact of those applications were discussed. The workshops final day focused on issues affecting the TC Programme, including ethics, awareness raising and communication, knowledge management and promoting the participation of women and young professionals.

The NLO for Senegal, Coumba Thiandoume, and NLA for Seychelles, Octavia Rose, shared their experiences, as established collaborators in the region. One of their recommendations was to establish a national steering committee with major stakeholders to discuss issues of common interest, to agree on priorities and to ensure monitoring and communication at the national level.

The workshop was attended by officers and assistants from Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Libya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan and the United Republic of Tanzania.

As you embark on this journey, I would like to assure you that you are not alone. The principles underpinning our joint effort are shared responsibility and cooperation, Abdulrazak said. While these principles emphasize the idea of working as partners, I would like to remind you early on that the ownership of the TC programme resides with Member States. The IAEA is here to support you.

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Virtual Induction: IAEA Experts Brief 24 Newly Appointed African National Liaison Officers and Assistants | IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency

A trip to the Seychelles Islands is incomplete without sampling the local cuisine. They are sharing some of the must-try Creole dishes visitors should tick off their list during their next holiday.

Turquoise waters, pearly white beaches and emerald rainforests arent the only riches the Seychelles islands have to offer. With a heritage as opulent as its surroundings, its no surprise that the Seychelles Creole cuisine captivates the taste buds of travelers from all corners of the globe.

Boasting a bold assortment of flavors, passed down from their ancestors, Creole cuisine is renowned for its fusion of herbs and spices, reflecting the communitys diverse heritage in each dish.

Creole cuisine largely encompasses lush spices and flavors such as chili, turmeric, masala, ginger, garlic, products of Indian and Chinese immigrants who added their twist to the French and English dishes introduced by the colonizers. For those wishing to indulge their sweet tooth, the islands also offer dishes containing soft hints of vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and citronella.

When exploring paradise, Seychelles suggests visitors take their palate on a gastronomical voyage of discovery with some of these tantalizing dishes.

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Savoring the flavors of the Seychelles - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News

T

he world's most vaccinated country is still struggling with a huge Covid case rate.

However, its seven day case rate remains 1,624 per 100,000.

For comparison, the UK's seven day case rate is 23.2 as of May 19.

This means that the Seychelles remains on the UKs red list.

The island's economy relies heavily on tourism. In 2019, nearly 400,00 people visited the island, four times more than its population of 97,625.

Despite the current high case rate, the island had been largely spared the ravages of the pandemic, with just 35 deaths recorded. The current high case rate has been attributed to people letting their guard down over Easter, according to the country's tourism board.

Around 33 per cent of those infected in the Seychelles have been fully vaccinated. The island is using the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Chinese-made Sinopharm, as well as the Russian Sputnik V.

Around 80 per cent of those hospitalised had not been vaccinated at all

While Covid vaccines dramatically decreases mortality rate, it is less effective against contracting Covid.

Indeed, around 80 per cent of those hospitalised had not been vaccinated at all, and the majority had underlying health conditions.

Murray Collins, Director of Blue Safari Seychelles, slammed media scaremongering for damaging the island's economy.

The spike in positive Covid-19 cases in the Seychelles are from those people who have not been vaccinated or those with comorbidities, he told Telegraph Travel.

The majority of news sources are simply focusing on the increase in the numbers and not the bigger picture. Given the small size of the population in the Seychelles, any increase in numbers will be reported as per capita, which proportionally produces a far higher figure compared to a country with a higher population, such as the UK. This results in a distorted overall percentage, which led to the UK government keeping the Seychelles on the red list and is nothing short of catastrophic.

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Worlds most vaccinated country still struggles with high Covid case rate - Evening Standard

Over the past two weeks, Seychelles which has been dubbed the most vaccinated country in the world has seen a spike in coronavirus cases, causing alarm and panic even among Americans who live more than 10,000 miles away.

The archipelago in the Indian Ocean, with a population of about 98,000, has fully vaccinated more than 60% of its population, but its also seen its number of active COVID-19 cases nearly double over the past month. The country has closed schools and canceled activities to attempt to curb the spread.

If a country with such a high vaccination rate can still see a COVID outbreak, what does that mean for even the highly vaccinated Bay Area?

Infectious disease experts say that, though its worrying in a global context, whats happening in Seychelles underscores how effective the Bay Area vaccination rollout has been.

Though Seychelles has been called the worlds most vaccinated country, not all vaccines are created equal.

The country used two vaccines to inoculate its population Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned vaccine, and Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, both of which have not been proven to be as effective as the Pfizer-BioNTec and Moderna vaccines primarily used in the U.S.

Just last week, the WHO expressed very low confidence in data provided by Sinopharm around its risk of severe side effects. Recent clinical trial data found the vaccine was about 78.1% effective after two doses, but the Seychelles outbreak could suggest that the efficacy is less than that, said UCSF infectious disease expert Peter Chin-Hong.

Data also found that the AstraZeneca vaccine may be less effective at reducing symptomatic COVID-19 than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Clinical trials found it to be about 66.7% effective, compared to the 97% efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine.

From the perspective of an American, Im not particularly worried, said UC Berkeley infectious disease expert John Swartzberg. The reason why is weve seen the U.S. demonstrate how well these vaccines do to protect us.

Places like Seychelles also didnt see huge COVID surges earlier in the pandemic, and have lower levels of natural immunity in their communities.

Chile is another example of a country with a high vaccination rate that now is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases. Its number of new daily cases nearly doubled in April from the prior month, even though the country has vaccinated more than 45% of its population, according to Reuters.

But the countrys experience is another example of the importance of nuance when it comes to saluting vaccination efforts. The main vaccine used among Chileans was Sinovac another Chinese vaccine and data shows it may be even less effective than Sinofarm. The country released its own study of the Sinovac vaccine and found that it was only 16% effective in preventing infection, and 36% effective at controlling hospitalizations after one dose, Bloomberg reported.

CDC data has found that even after one dose of Pfizer, the risk of infection fell by 80% after two weeks, which aligns with the Bay Areas relative success in squashing COVID-19 so far. On Thursday, San Francisco General Hospital reported zero COVID patients for the first time since March 2020.

Aside from being less effective at controlling COVID-19 infections, both vaccines used in Seychelles are overall less equipped to handle some of the variants that the country is seeing rapidly spread, including B.1.617, the variant discovered in India. It is thought to be even more transmissible than the highly infectious variant discovered in the U.K., B117, which is now dominant in the U.S.

But even still, Chin-Hong says, most cases in Seychelles are likely in people who are not yet vaccinated, or at least fully vaccinated.

None of these factors are independent, but they all work together, and you kind of get the perfect storm when you get a highly transmissible variant, a not effective vaccine, and not enough people immunized, he added.

Still, its important to distinguish case counts from serious side effects. Most people who are getting infected with the coronavirus in Seychelles arent having serious symptoms, and most of them arent dying.

Thats very different from whats happening in India, which is dealing with a deadly combination of low vaccination rates, excessive crowding, and other systemic issues that make it harder to treat people who are ill, Chin-Hong said.

Thats the reason why its just a moral and humanitarian catastrophe, he said. Its a syndemic. Add disparities and social ills onto a pandemic and you get much worse things happening.

The world in 2021, because of the variants, is a very different world than 2020, Chin-Hong said, adding that unvaccinated people who travel internationally will be playing virus Russian Roulette.

On the other hand, for those who have been vaccinated, even some of these much-talked about variants dont seem to pose huge issues. Every one that exists currently responds well to our vaccines, said Swartzberg.

But the Bay Area, California, and the U.S. are not islands, he added. With more holidays and summer coming up, people are going to be traveling more and they already have, which of course could impact the situation on both sides of the Atlantic.

If I want to worry about something, Im worried about the unknown variant that hasnt been produced by the virus, Swartzberg said. Not one that exists currently. The best way to prevent that from happening is to get everyone on the planet vaccinated.

Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: annie.vainshtein@sfchronicle.com

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The most vaccinated country in the world is seeing a COVID outbreak. Should the Bay Area be worried? - San Francisco Chronicle

The islands remain safe for travel, despite a rise in community Covid-19 cases which has prompted tighter health measures this week, said the Chief Executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Mrs Sherin Francis, adding that since the country re-opened its borders to all countries in late March, every tourism service provider and business has adopted strict Standard Operating Procedures, (SOPs) and 587 of the 720 tourist accommodation establishments are Covid-safe certified.

We are constantly improving and stepping up the safety measures and protocols in place to protect our guests and local population alike, she said.

Murray Collins, Director of Blue Safari Seychelles, was less inclined to mince his words. The lack of in-depth media reporting and scaremongering for travelling to the Seychelles is despicable and is having a detrimental effect on the tourism and overall economy of the country, he tells Telegraph Travel, noting that the UK is a key market.

The spike in positive Covid-19 cases in the Seychelles are from those people who have not been vaccinated or those with comorbidities. The majority of news sources are simply focusing on the increase in the numbers and not the bigger picture. Given the small size of the population in the Seychelles, any increase in numbers will be reported as per capita, which proportionally produces a far higher figure compared to a country with a higher population, such as the UK. This results in a distorted overall percentage, which led to the UK government keeping the Seychelles on the red list and is nothing short of catastrophic.

Interestingly, its a very similar story in the Maldives, a competing honeymoon destination in South Asia where again, its vaccine drive has been impressive 71 per cent of the population has been jabbed once, and 35 per cent twice. It is even planning to offer foreign visitors a vaccine under a scheme that has been dubbed 3V tourism: Visit, Vaccinate, Vacation, later this year. Nevertheless, the Maldives also has a high seven-day case rate of 1,780 per 100,000 citizens; up 11 per cent on last week. In total, it has recorded 120 deaths.

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Why is the world's most vaccinated nation struggling with a huge Covid case rate? - Telegraph.co.uk

LONDON: The UK has its sights set on trade deals with the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), according to International Trade Secretary Liz Truss.

The Gulf is a definite target and we are working on the approach to (the) Gulf, Truss told the Daily Telegraph.

We are in discussions with the GCC and I hope that well be able to say more about that soon.

The GCC comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar makes up a significant proportion of Britains international trade.

In 2019, the UKs trade with the six Gulf states was worth around $63.5 billion,putting the GCC behind only the US, China and the EU in value of trading partners.

Truss is also closing in on a potentially lucrative investment deal with Mubadala, the UAEs sovereign wealth fund, which a source told the Daily Telegraph is getting some real traction now after a couple of very big meetings.

Mubadala is said to be targeting investment in the UKs health, clean energy, infrastructure and technology sectors, in what could be a significant boost to Britains post-Brexit economy.

Since the UKs decision to leave the EU was implemented at the beginning of this year, the country has been pushing hard for trade deals with its existing trade partners and allies.

Last year, the British government announced a review into UK-GCC trade, and said in a statement: With the United Kingdom embarking on its new independent trade policy outside of the European Union, and with GCC Member States delivering their economic diversification and vision plans, now is the moment for the United Kingdom and the GCC to build on their historic and deep friendship to develop even closer economic ties, boosting our trade and investment further still.

It added: We celebrate the strength of the bilateral relationship, nowhere more apparent than through our continued collaboration on the Covid-19 pandemic, and share an ambition of boosting our businesses, delivering new investment, creating new jobs and ensuring prosperity in the years to come.

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Saudi Fund for Development in talks to finance infrastructure projects in Seychelles - Arab News

The Aldabra Giant Tortoise on Curieuse Island, Seychelles. (Photo: Chris Close)

Pack linen, straw hat, flip-flops, a bucket of sunscreen, and proof that you got the second/final Covid-19 vaccine shot at least two weeks prior (for children under 18, an RT-PCR negative report will do) and head to the Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 granite and coralline islands that has just opened its doors to international tourists.

Too many islands?

Ignore the count, because only four are inhabited (Mahe, Praslin, La Digue and Silhouette).

You could hike, dive, eat a fruit bat, dip your toes in silken sand, gape at the worlds largest species of coconut - and tortoise. And hear stories about Marie Antoinette (last queen of France) escaping the guillotine and shacking in a Seychelles island. Of writer Ian Fleming waiting for the muse to write the Bond adventure For Your Eyes Only. Of Prince William and Kate Middleton picking a Robinson Crusoe-type island for their honeymoon. So many stories, so many to-do things on an island that if you believe the myth was the Garden of Eden.

Heres a quick look at must-see, must-do, must-eat in Seychelles:

Victoria: Nothing screams Small is Beautiful better than Victoria, the capital of Seychelles. One of the smallest capitals in the world, it is so small that you could walk around it in anhour and spin around in 20 minutes by car.An old church stands as a reminder of the colonial era, a Hindu temple painted bright shimmers by the arcade, and the weekly market buzzes with hawkers and buyers. The crown jewel of the central roundabout is the Big Ben. The Little Big Ben, actually. A tiny silver replica of Londons Vauxhall Clock Tower that was erected to mark Seychelles new status as the Crown Colony. This Big Ben is small but do not call it Little Ben. It has a proper name: IHorloge (literally, painted silver).

La Digue: With a population of 1,500, La Digue seems to be sitting on another planet. For long, cars were not allowed on the island. Rent a bicycle and pedal around. Laze on white beaches and gape at rocks carved exquisitely by lashing waves over millions of years. Anse Source dArgent on La Digue is said to be the most photographed beach in the world. Spare half a day for Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to get up close with the Aldabra Giant Tortoises that can live for centuries. Do not miss LUnion Estate, a former coconut and vanilla plantation that offers a peep into the islands colonial history.

Praslin Island: If legends are to be believed, Valle De Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Praslin, was the original site of the Garden of Eden. Not many talk of Adamand Eve, though. All chatter is around Coco de Mer, an

Female Coco De Mer nut. (Photo: Gerald Larose)

Tip: Take Cat Cocos Ferry from Mahe to Praslin and Praslin to La Digue. Operational twice daily every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdayand Friday; once on Sunday. Do not think of bringing home the Coco de Mer - it is strictly prohibited.

Fruit batsandshark chutney: Pwason Sale (salt fish) chutney with green mango; grilled red snapper basted with garlic and ginger; red lentil stew; snake gourd curry; breadfruit or cassava chips or daube, a sweet/salty staple soup. In Seychelles, Creole meals meld local flavours with French flair. But wait, you have not heard of the unusual lunch delicacy: thefruit bat. Thats what Sundayare for -the bat meal. Fruit bats are dressed, diced, marinated overnight in garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and vinegar, then sauted and slathered with tamarind juice. Four bats are enough for a hearty meal for three people! If bats are not enough to fill a plate, theres satini reken. That is, shark chutney. Skinned, boiled shark meat finely mashed and cooked in lime and bilimbi juice and garnished with fried onions.

Vanilla tourandtreat: You cannotcome away from Seychelles without hearing its vanilla story, a pod that turned the fate of the African island and its people. In 1877, the archipelago exported the first batch of vanilla for a puny 1,195 Seychelles Rupees. Almost 60 kilograms of cured vanilla derived from 48,000 green pods! Today, vanilla is an economy and culinary essential. Visit a vanilla plantation; dig a spoon into Ladob (made of sweet potato and plantain boiled in coconut milk, nutmeg, sugar and vanilla) and Carotte Bananas (bananas wrapped in banana leaves with honey and vanilla).

Anse Source d'Argent, La Digue. (Photo: Michel Denousse)

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Travel in the time of Covid: Seychelles has opened its doors to international tourists - Moneycontrol.com

A Spanish tuna fishing vessel, the Playa de Anzoras, named after a beach in Spain, sailed under the Spanish flag until January 9, 2014. On January 10 that year, the 2,200-tonne vessel dropped the Spanish flag in favour of the Seychelles flag. Seychelles is a small archipelagic nation in the Indian Ocean.

Neither Spain nor continental Europe share a coast with the Indian Ocean, wherePlayadeAnzorasoperates. Yet the European Union dominates tuna fisheries here and profits the most from it. This dominance is, in part, explained by ships like thePlaya de Anzoras, which is flagged to Seychelles but ultimately controlled by European companies, according to records reviewed by Mongabay.

EU-controlled ships have pulled in the lions share of the regions valuable yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) for more than three decades. Now, the stock is teetering on the verge of collapse. A plan to stop overfishing and restore it has failed.

This March, talks on the issue ended in a stalemate. The EU wants other members of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the intergovernmental agency charged with managing tuna fisheries in the region, which India is a part of, to be subject to greater restrictions. Meanwhile, some observers point to the EUs own failure to play by the rules and save a stock that it profits so greatly from.

The Indian Ocean is ringed by developing countries, many of which have only in the last century gained independence from European colonial rule. Some see EU states grip over resources like tuna as the persistence of an exploitative relationship.

The attitude of the EU is hypocritical and neo-colonial, Nirmal Shah, chief executive of the non-profit Nature Seychelles and former head of the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), told Mongabay. You have some of the richest countries in the world overfishing and they are blaming poorer countries.

Tuna fisheries are lucrative, feeding a market worth billions of dollars. The Indian Ocean is thesecond most productive tuna fishery in the world, and most of this tuna is caught in the western Indian Ocean.

In 1982, the U.N. recognised states sovereign rights to marine areas 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from their coasts, creating exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Seychelles, a fledgling nation that won independence from the U.K. in 1976, stood to benefit immensely. Between them, the 100 or so islands scattered just south of the equator in the western Indian Ocean carve out an EEZ of 1.37 million square kilometres (530,000 square miles), a little less than half the size of India.

Seychellois waters are a prime spot for tuna fishing, with yellowfin, bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) being the major catches there.

As tuna fisheries profitability in the Atlantic Ocean declined, European nations like Spain and France sought new fishing grounds. The formation of EEZs forced these countries to enter into agreements with poorer coastal states to feed the continents growing appetite for seafood. (The EU is second only to China in seafood consumption.)

We have this amazing orchard of apple trees, and right now we do not have ladders to climb to them and collect the apples, is how Jeremy Raguain, who works for the Seychelles Islands Foundation, described the situation. E.U. and other countries, which have very advanced technology and ships, say: look, we have the ladders to take these apples that you would not otherwise be able to get.

In the western Indian Ocean, the European Economic Community (EEC), the precursor to the EU, struck deals with Madagascar and small island nations like Seychelles, Mauritius and Comoros, which didnt have the financing or technical capacity to harvest their own marine resources at a commercial scale, partly due to decades of colonisation.

Spain signed a pact with Seychelles in 1983 allowing its ships to fish migratory species like tuna in Seychellois waters, and the first Spanish purse seiners started operating there in 1984. But with its entry into the EEC in 1986, Spains fishing activities, like those of France, became subject to agreements between the EEC and Seychelles.

These agreements have long been criticised as disadvantaging the smaller, poorer countries.

There are direct benefits for states like Seychelles. Fishing access fees are an important source of revenue for the country. Under the latestagreementwith the EU, this amounts to 5.3 million euros ($6.3 million) annually.

EU shipowners also pay about 80-85 euros ($97-$102) per ton of tuna. One can buy canned yellowfin for about $17 per kilogram on Amazon. A ton of tuna 1,000 kilograms would cost $17,000 (14,145 euros) at that price.

Yes, they bring in some money, yes they give us license fees. But look at what they give us compared to the profits that these people make, Shah said. They give us trinkets for our treasure.

Canned or pouched yellowfin tuna caught by purse seine vessels in the Indian Ocean brings in $1 billion every year from customers, according to an analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts, a U.S.-based policy research group. Almost 80% of this tuna is caught by European-controlled vessels.

These vessels are mostly purse seiners, some of the worlds largest industrial fishing boats. They deploy seine nets, up to 2 km (1.2 mi) in length if laid out flat, which encircle the fish school and squeeze shut at the bottom like a drawstring purse.

There are 15 Spanish-flagged and 12 French-flagged purse seine vessels currently authorised to fish in the Indian Ocean.

On paper, Seychelles has a purse seine fleet operating in the Indian Ocean that rivals that of Spain, the EUs biggest fishing nation. But the entire fleet of 13 vessels that fly Seychelles flag is effectively in European hands.

EU records and other fishing agreements reveal that Pesquera Vasco Montaesa SA (Pevasa), a founding member of Spains Pevaeche Group, owns Playa de Anzoras. AlbacoraSA owns four other Seychelles-flagged vessels,S. Echebastarowns three,Inpescaowns two, andAtunsa, one. All these companies are based in Spains Basque Country, a traditional stronghold for the fisheries industry in Europe.

French company SAPMER SA, controls the remaining two vessels in the Seychellois fleet. It also owns three boats that make up the entire purse seine fleet of Mauritius, another small island-nation in the western Indian Ocean.

The Albacora group, which has four vessels in the Seychellois fleet and annual revenues exceeding $100 million, is a major player in tuna fisheries. It owns vessels, canneries and tuna marketing companies. From its start as a family-run outfit in the early 1970s in Spain, it now operates in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in addition to the Indian Ocean where it has vessels flagged to both the EU and Seychelles.

Using a flag of convenience is a widespread but controversial practice. It allows vessel owners to save on taxes, bypass labour regulations, and avoid tougher oversight and increasingly stringent environmental checks that their own countries may require.

For the first time, the EUSeychelles agreement signed last year set aside about 175,000 euros ($209,000) a year to be paid by EU purse seine vessel owners toward an environmental fund. It also seeks to phase out the use of harmful fish aggregating devices, or FADs, fishing aids that have contributed to overexploitation of yellowfin populations. But provisions under the agreement dont extend to thePlaya de Anzorasor the 12 other Seychelles-flagged ships, even if their beneficial owners, the ones that ultimately profit from the ships, are European.

While EU records list Spanish company Pevasa as the owner of the Playa de Anzoras, IOTC records identify the ships owner as Sea Breeze Ventures Limited, based in the Caribbean nation of Belize. This company, per the D&B Business Directory, has one employee. While the connection between Pevasa and Sea Breeze remains unclear, it bears the hallmarks of a common arrangement in the fisheries industry in which a larger established company, the beneficial owner, sets up one or more companies in a tax haven as nominal owners of its fleet or a portion thereof for business purposes.

All the Spanish-backed Seychellois vessels appear to have nominal owners headquartered in jurisdictions like Belize that regularly feature in the EUs list of tax havens.Neither Pevasa nor the other European companies that own Seychelles-flagged purse seiners responded to attempts by Mongabay to seek a comment for this story.

A ships flag determines which country is responsible for the vessel, and in the case of yellowfin tuna, which countrys quota its owners can exploit. By sailing under the flag of a small island nation with a nominal owner based in a fiscal paradise, a ship can maximise profits and minimise regulatory oversight.

The use of flags of convenience is a loophole, said Vanya Vulperhorst, a campaign director at the European office of the NGO Oceana, headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its a way to circumvent EU requirements.

It is really an oversight if you are trying to get more sustainable fisheries, she added.

Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna is not only one of the worlds most profitable fisheries; it is also one of the most threatened.

The stock could collapse as soon as 2026, according to an assessment the IOTC commissioned. The tuna management agency has 31 members, including local parties like Seychelles, and others like the EU, China and Japan that operate distant-water fishing fleets in the region.

In 2016, the agency launched a yellowfin rebuilding plan, which required member states to reduce their purse seine catches by 15% from their 2014 levels. An IOTC report from 2021 found that EU-flagged purse seiners overfished yellowfin tuna in 2017 and 2018, after the rebuilding plan was implemented.

Everybody has an equal responsibility to abide by their quotas, said Glen Holmes, a fisheries expert with The Pew Charitable Trusts. But the EU as a well-resourced country block has a moral obligation to set the highest standard.

The Seychelles-flagged purse seine fleet also exceeded its yellowfin quota in 2017 and 2018.Being a small island developing state, a special status under the U.N., Seychelles was allowed to choose the baseline year upon which to calculate its target quota.Instead of 2014, when its catch was only 23,463 tons, it chose 2015, when its catch stood at 39,072 tons. This resulted in a much higher target quota under the rebuilding plan another advantage for European-owned vessels flying the Seychellois flag.

Mauritius is also recognised as a small island developing state and chose 2018 as its baseline year, when its catch was 11,322 tons, as opposed to 2014, when its fleet caught only 4,844 tons of yellowfin tuna. As a result, its purse seine fleet is today allowed to catch about 10,500 tons of tuna, more than double what it was catching in 2014.

Christopher OBrien, the IOTCs executive secretary, told Mongabay that catch limits for the following year are lower for fleets that overshoot their catch limits but there are no other penalties for breaching them.

Experts argue that even the present catch reductions are not enough to save the stock.

The yellowfin tuna stock rebuilding plan put in place by the IOTC in 2016 has, thus far, failed to reduce catches from the baseline at all, let alone by the 25 percent necessary to save the stock from collapse, a 2020 Blue Marine Foundation report authored by Jess Rattle concluded.

The rebuilding plans failure has prompted the IOTC to hold a series of special meetings to build consensus around measures to curb overfishing. At a meeting held this March, the EU proposed that catch reductions for purse seiners increase marginally from 15% to 18%. The Maldives, another small island nation, is pushing for more: a 35% cut for purse seiners from developed countries and 28% from developing countries.

The European Union proposal is less ambitious, Holmes said. There is less change involved in the EUs proposal than there is in the Maldives one. The Maldives proposal will almost certainly reduce the overall catch to a level that will reduce or prevent overfishing.

Julio Morn Ayala, managing director of OPAGAC, which represents the Spanish tuna fishing industry, including Albacora, told Mongabay in an emailed response that his organisation wants fleets of IOTC member countries that are currently exempt from reductions to also be subject to catch cuts.

Since 2016, IOTC regulation has established a larger cut on the purse seine gear (15%) compared to others (10-5%) and exempting most of the Coastal countries, Ayala said. So, the EU has and is taking a major cut on the yellowfin catch, but the final result is that other gears had increased their catch offsetting the reduction achieved.

The countries currently exempt from cuts are almost all developing Indian Ocean countries, including Yemen and Madagascar, some of the worlds poorest nations. Most do not operate industrial fleets but rather small-scale fisheries in their own EEZs that largely supply local populations. None of the individual countries shares of the yellowfin tuna catch is anywhere close to the EUs. But the combined share of this dozen or so countries has grown in the past few years.

Experts say that in the absence of proper enforcement, illegal fishing activity will also deplete fish stocks in the region.

Read more: El Nio-Southern Oscillation can affect tuna fish in the Indian Ocean, says FAO report

Even if the quotas are reduced, enforcing them will still be difficult.

The IOTC relies on self-reporting by member states to track catches, so transgressions are hard to pinpoint independently. In 2018, a discrepancy in Spains catch reports came to light only after Blue Marine Foundation flagged it. TheIOTClater confirmed that Spain underreported its yellowfin tuna catch by 30% that year.

The ability of Seychelles, a small coastal state whose total government revenues stand at around $400 million, to police multimillion-dollar companies with beneficial owners abroad is questionable, as suggested by the Seychellois fleets involvement in overfishing yellowfin. An IOTC report found poor training and a lack of support for the countrys observer program, where personnel board ships to collect data and monitor their practices. The program is partly funded by the industry.

Operators can choose freely where to register their vessels, the EUs Office for Seychelles and Mauritius said in a statement in response to Mongabays questions about ships using flags of convenience. The office becomes concerned only if vessels change flags regularly to escape obligations or circumvent their quota. Since many of the vessels have flown the Seychelles flag for several years, it doesnt qualify as abusive, the statement said.

Seychelles has to exercise its flag state responsibilities on their fleets and report on their compliance records to the RFMOs [regional fisheries management organisations] covering their EEZ, it added.

The Seychelles Fishing Authority and the ministry of fisheries did not respond to several attempts by Mongabay to seek comment.

The ship owners view the arrangements as investments and point to the benefits they offer to coastal states. Since our operations started back in the 60s, some companies not only invest in coastal countries through fleet, but through tuna processing plants inland. Ayala from OPAGAC said in his email. In the Indian Ocean, the EU fleet operating since 1987, has developed the tuna industry in Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar and Kenya, where more than 15,000 direct employments depend on the tuna operations.

However, foreign workers are overrepresented in this sector. Of theroughly 2,000 employees at Indian Ocean Tuna Ltd. (IOT), the largest cannery in Seychelles, for instance, almost 70% are foreigners.

The Thai Union group that owns the cannery supplies some of Europes leading seafood brands, including John West, Petit Navire, Parmentier and Mareblu.

It isnt just the ownership of the Seychellois purse seine vessels that is shadowy; they often operate under the radar. A recent analysis showed that, in violation of international law, most of the Spanish-controlled tuna purse seine vessels did not continuously transmit their locations via the automatic identification system (AIS).

AIS, which tracks vessels through their unique alphanumeric signature, allows seafarers to map out other ships locations and aids navigation. But it is also central to coastal states ability to monitor vessels activity to ensure they are not entering protected areas or fishing where they are not supposed to.

The analysis, by the U.K.-based NGO OceanMind compiled by Blue Marine Foundation, looked at AIS use by tuna purse seiners over 850 days between 2017 and 2019 in the western Indian Ocean. It revealed low rates of AIS transmission for both Spanish-flagged and Seychelles-flagged ships.

ThePlaya De Anzorastransmitted its location for less than 40% of the 850-day period. It did better than most. TheArtza, owned by Atunsa, did not transmit its location at all. For the nine remaining Spanish-controlled ships, the figure ranged between 3% and 33%. The numbers were similar for the 14 Spain-flagged ships considered in the report.

The fact that these ships beneficial owners are based in Europe also allows them to profit from EU fishing subsidies. Between 2000 and 2010, Spains global fishing industry received more than $8 billion in subsidies. The Albacora group has benefited from subsidies not just from the EU but also from the Spanish government.

Critics say such state subsidies allow unprofitable fishing to remain viable and lead to overfishing.

The EU has continued to subsidise fisheries over the years, while trying to purge those that lead to overexploitation. Reports that the EU is seeking to reintroduce allegedly harmful fishing subsidies as part of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund have sparked alarm.

Between 2021 and 2027, around seven billion euros of public money will be injected into the ocean economy. However, countless studies and reports show that the vast majority of the fund is used to encourage overfishing and fuel the demise of nature at sea, a group of more than 100 scientists wrote in anopen letterpublished in November 2020.

It has also raised concerns in Seychelles, whose fisheries sector is greatly impacted by the EUs actions. For us in the Western Indian Ocean where 40 percent of the E.U. catch of tuna comes from, this may mean the end of our tuna stocks, Shah toldlocal news agencies.

He told Mongabay in an interview in March that the EUs reputation was being sullied because of the actions of two countries: Spain and France. It is not even two countries but the private companies in two countries of the EU being supported, defended and paid for by the EU, he said.

European interests dominate Indian Ocean tuna fisheries not just in terms of supply but also demand.

Almost all of the processed tuna from Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascaris exported, and the exports are largely destined for the EU. Canneries in those countries are all supplied by the European industrial purse seine fleet. The mainly European shipowners areassured a captive market for their catches, a 2017 report from the EU think tank IDDRI found.

These tuna exports haveduty-free accessto European markets under economicpartnership agreements, saving them from a 24% tariff. Under the rules of origin that are part of the agreements, the canneries in Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar can use only fish caught either by their fleets or by the EU fleets, Liam Campling, an expert on global trade centred on tuna fisheries, at the Queen Mary University of London, said. The rules of origin have been a massive support to the EU distant water fleet because it means they have a locked-in market.

Since almost all the tuna comes from EU-controlled ships, it is unclear how the three countries benefit from these tax breaks.

If the Europeans really wanted to deal with the problem of yellowfin, they can, Campling said. but they dont want to take the economic hit.

In some ways, the biggest cannery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean Tuna Ltd. (IOT), embodies the unequal relationship around tuna that has become entrenched between some Indian Ocean countries and the EU. It is owned by Thai Union/M.W. Brands, a Thailand-based leading supplier of canned tuna. It buys tuna almost exclusively from EU-owned ships, sends most of its tuna back to the EU duty-free, and employs mostly foreigners.

Tuna and the money to be made from it leave Seychelles every year and its not clear if the countrys gains outweigh its losses. What is certain is that those gains are themselves in jeopardy.

If the worst were to happen and fish stocks decline to a point where we couldnt fish anymore, the EU purse seine fleet could almost certainly go to a different ocean to fish, says Rattle of the Blue Marine Foundation, whereas the coastal states left behind, they cant go anywhere else, so they will just be stuck with no fish.

For Shah, too, it isnt just immediate economic gains that are at stake. Is it right for you, no matter how much money you make, to destroy our natural resources? he asked. What will happen to future opportunities for Seychellois?

This article was first published in Mongabay on April 8, 2021.

Editors Note: The article has been updated to clarify IOTC executive secretary Christopher OBriens comments.

Banner image: A yellowfin tuna. Photo by sucinimad via Flickr.

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Predatory European ships push Indian Ocean tuna to the brink - Mongabay-India