The head of the EU delegation to Seychelles, ambassador Alessandro Mariani, said this at a press conference after visiting the new artisanal fisheries port at Providence, the Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS) and the Sea Harvest fish processing company at the Fishing Port.

During the visits Mr Mariani was accompanied by Minister for Investment, Natural Resources and Industry Peter Sinon, French ambassador Philippe Delacroix, principal secretary Michael Nalletamby, and the chairperson of the Seychelles Fishing Authority Veronique Herminie.

Mr Mariani said he expects the agreement to be formally approved in April.

“This tuna protocol agreement is the most important one in the region, since the Seychelles exclusive economic zone generally represents 25% of the total Indian Ocean catches of the European fishing fleet, which supplies almost exclusively the local industries of Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar and Kenya,” he said.

“It has a much bigger development component than any previous agreement and it takes into account a decreasing fishing effort since 2008, due to the growing incidence of piracy.

“So in line with the current fishing capacity of the fleet, the maximum quantity of tuna catches by EU vessels in Seychelles’ waters is no longer established as a reference tonnage of 63,000 tonnes but at a more realistic estimate of 52,000 tonnes.

“The related financial contribution for access rights amounts, consequently, to €3.38 million per year compared with €4.095 million per year previously.”

Mr Mariani said, however, that the reduction of the reference tonnage is made up for by the “significant increase of the development grant provided in the form of sector budget support for the Seychelles maritime and fishery policy”.

“The development grant was raised from €1.26m to €2.22m per year,” he said.

“The total EU financial contribution represents €5.6m per year, which is 5% more than the annual contribution under the previous protocol.

“In addition to this amount, Seychelles also benefits from the ship owners’ licence fees that could represent about €1.3 million a year.”

Mr Mariani said although he is not a technical expert in the area of standards, he is confident that the SBS ensures the highest quality of food for both local and overseas consumers.

Mr Sinon said fisheries management has improved with the new fishing ports.

“The concerns of local fishermen, for example their facilities at Pointe Larue and the Roche Caïman and English River markets, are getting the attention of President James Michel after the issues were brought to him during his recent visit to Takamaka.”

He said the need to create safer passes for fishermen there and on La Digue have been noted.

The issue of how to give fishermen more storage facilities near their work is also being addressed so they do not have to carry heavy equipment over long distances, he said.

Mr Sinon also said the EU has been working with the government to see how farmers and fishermen can be compensated through insurance in the event of disasters like tsunamis or floods.