Aquaculture farms were in focus at the first pre-budgetary consultative meeting held for the fishing sector, as an important means to boost employment in the fisheries domain.
Industry representatives from the fishing sector met Mauritius Fisheries Minister Nicolas Von Mally on July 17, 2014 in the presence of financial secretary Dev Manraj, for consultations over the sector’s inputs for Budget 2015.
The industry representatives present at the event hailed from Ireland Blyth Limited (IBL) and Thon des Mascareignes, among other private operators, as well as the Mauritius Oceanography Institute, Board of Investment, MEXA and Joint Economic Council.
According to Nicolas Von Mally, thoughts and views must be shared on how to make fishing a stronger economic pillar, develop the seafood hub, and take up aquaculture on a large scale, after factoring in the legal, health and environmental aspects of fisheries.
The latter insisted on sustainable growth in the fishing sector while ensuring that the revenues from this sector are fairly distributed, benefiting both small and big stakeholders.
“We want to develop big aquaculture farms and small-scale farms which will give employment opportunities to the smaller fishermen as well,” Nicolas Von Mally said.
Furthermore, the minister declared that all the development of the sector will have to be done within an environment-friendly framework.
Finally, the three pillars on which Von Mally wants to build the sector are sustainable fishing, fair distribution of wealth and environmental protection.
This consultative meeting follows an announcement made by the Prime Minister, Navin Ramgoolam, on June 27, 2014, at the annual dinner of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).
“Mauritius needs to bring reforms and consolidate various sectors of the economy, including financial services, and to move to a new threshold of development,” he noted.
This meeting was accordingly held as part of a series of consultative meetings after that of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector, financial services sector, the manufacturing sector and the tourism sector, for incorporation of inputs in the forthcoming budget.
Image (FIS): Mauritius Fisheries Minister Nicolas Von Mally met industry representatives in the presence of financial secretary Dev Manraj, for consultations over the sector’s inputs for Budget 2015.
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