photo of Seychelles coast with boats

Informing Seychelles’ fisheries management through a cost recovery analysis

About

Effective fisheries management is foundational to the sustainability and longevity of global and national fisheries. However, these management measures are not without costs. As governments seek to trim budgets and more efficiently deliver their fisheries services (monitoring, enforcement, etc), it is important to understand the true costs of management and the revenues generated from their fisheries and marine resources. This is particularly true for countries that rely heavily on their fisheries for their economy, livelihoods, and food security. In partnership with The Nature Conservancy and local partners in the Seychelles, emLab investigated the costs associated with managing fishing in the Seychelles’ EEZ, as well as the portion of those costs that could be recovered from local fishing fleets. 

Approach

We conducted a financial analysis to assess the current costs and revenues associated with managing the Seychelles’ fleets with the ultimate goal of determining how much management agencies may be spending on their fisheries. Building on the results of this analysis, we then evaluated a suite of innovative cost recovery mechanisms to identify the most effective way for management agencies to fully recover their management costs. Ultimately, our goal is to develop an analysis framework and suite of solutions that can be replicated and applied in other regions around the world.

Partners

This study was conducted in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, and local partners, Seychelles Fishing Authority and PANASEA.