Aquaculture: Floating cages distributed to fishermen

In line with Government’s policy to encourage aquaculture, two floating cages were handed over yesterday to fishermen of cooperative societies at Grande Riviere Sud Est Fisheries Post. The ceremony was held in the presence of the Minister of Ocean Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries, Shipping and Outer Islands, Mr Prem Koonjoo.

Ten floating net cage structures of 12 metres in diameter and cage nets of around Rs 1 million each have been recently acquired. These cages will enable production of fish for the local market whilst ensuring the least risk to fishermen since they would not be required to venture at sea. Technical guidance for the successful implementation of the project will also be provided by the Ministry.

In his address, Minister Koonjoo recalled that government aims to transform Mauritius into an ocean State by promoting the ocean economy as one of its main pillars of development. The Ministry is endorsing all ocean-related activities of economic value and one such major activity is aquaculture, he said.

He pointed out that the stocking of the lagoon with fingerlings remains at the high end of policy.  To that effect, the Ministry is pursuing with the marine ranching programme. For year 2016, 155,000 sea bream juveniles have already been released in different lagoons across the island.

Speaking about the effective and efficient enforcement of the law to protect our seas and ensure a sustainable livelihood for the next generation, Mr Koonjoo appealed to the National Coast Guard to work in close collaboration with the Fisheries Protection Service to ensure that there is a proper mechanism in place to enforce laws aimed at protecting the marine environment and the resources.

Aquaculture in Mauritius

Following initiation of small scale floating cage culture in Mauritius and subsequent encouraging results obtained from the pilot phases, eight floating cages were set as follows: one at Grand Gaube, one at Trou d’Eau Douce and six at Quatre Soeurs.  A total of 12 150 ‘cordonnier’ were stocked in cages at Grand Gaube, Trou d’Eau Douce and Quatre Soeurs in 2013.

Some 13,000 ‘cordonnier’ and 1,000 ‘gueule pavé’ have been stocked at Quatre Soeurs. A first partial harvest of about 350 kg at Quatre Soeurs was carried out two years ago, indicating that the yield per cage was estimated to be about 1.2 tons.