Highlights

• In 2017, the direct revenue of licensing fees for the Seychelles government from national and foreign tuna fishing fleets was estimated to be USD$ >12 million;
• About one order of magnitude separates the annual tuna production of the Seychelles fleets, i.e. ~1,000 t for semi-industrial longline, ~10,000 t for deep-water longline and ~100,000 t for purse seine;
• In recent years, the ex-vessel value of tuna caught by Seychelles fleets was USD$ >200 million and the value of the tuna catch in Seychelles waters was USD$~175 million;
• The purse seine fishing fleet annually spends USD$ ~100 million in fuel and USD$ >17 million in services (e.g. stevedoring, ship chandlery) in Port Victoria;
• We modeled the monetary flows between the macro-economic agents of the Seychelles to assess the direct, indirect and induced effects of industrial fisheries on the national economy;
• Fishing is the economic sector that has the greatest output multiplier effect for the Seychelles;
• The fish production sector and the food manufacturing sector driven by the cannery have cumulative economic effects of USD$ ~50 and ~530 million, respectively;
• The fish-related sectors contribute directly or indirectly to nearly 10% of the Seychelles Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to >8% of national employment;
• We simulated the effect of the implementation of High Biodiversity Protection Areas (15% of Seychelles ocean) of the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan as an external shock on the national economy based on different assumptions about fishing effort strategies and licensing agreement negotiations;
• We found that the reduction in tuna fisheries catch and licensing revenues resulting from the 15% developed through the MSP would have very limited effects on the economic activities and Gross Domestic Product of the Seychelles.

Suggested Citation

Chassot, E., P. Guillotreau, and B. Gastineau. 2018.  Economic value assessment of Seychelles tuna fisheries. Publication prepared for The Nature Conservancy. Submitted to the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan Initiative and Government of Seychelles.