Source: Seychelles National

An Abu Dhabi firm yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding for tuna ranching and other fisheries activities to begin here soon.

A representative of the firm, Asmac, signed on behalf of the company while Veronique Herminie, who chairs the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), signed on behalf of the government.

Managing director Rondolph Payet of the SFA said the development is a further fruit of President James Michel’s visits to Abu Dhabi, which encouraged businesses to invest here.

Mr. Payet said the process will be part of the further diversification of the economy, but consultations will be necessary to ensure the ranching does not conflict with other planned developments, for example those related to tourism.

He said among the advantages of ranching over catching tuna in the open sea are that stocks remain within our waters and the fish gain weight and fetch more when eventually sold in various forms.

Tuna ranching involves catching juvenile tuna in the wild and growing them in cages. The fish, which have not had a chance to reproduce, are caught in nets and towed slowly through the sea to inshore waters, where they are transferred to cages for on-growing.

Here they are fed on large amounts of small pelagic fish such as sardines and anchovies, taking as much as 20kg of wild fish to produce 1kg of tuna. After several months, when the tuna have reached optimal market size, they are harvested and sold.