The Coast Guard vessel Saya de Malha embarked on a FAD (Fish Aggregating Devices) Watch recovery mission today, Monday 25^th November 2024. The Minister for Fisheries and the Blue Economy, Mr. Jean Francois Ferrari, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Fisheries Authority, Dr. Jan Robinson were present at the Seychelles Coast Guard Base, to see off the crew who will be engaging in the 21-day mission. There are 4 students and a lecturer from the Seychelles Maritime Academy, as well as a Scientific Observer and a Senior Fisheries Scientist from the Seychelles Fisheries Authority participating in this initiative.

This is the 3^rd FAD Watch recovery mission since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Seychelles Fisheries Authority (SFA), the Sustainable Indian Ocean Tuna Initiative (SIOTI) and the Spanish Association of Tuna Freezers (AGAC) in July 2023. The aim of the MOU was to prevent and mitigate at the maximum level possible, the stranding and entanglement of drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs) in coral reefs, shallow water habitats and coastal zones.

The area of focus for this 3^rd mission will be the outer islands, where the crew will intercept and recover FADs at drift that pose a risk of stranding in the shallow marine habitats.

During the send-off, the CEO of the SFA presented the crew with essential supplies for their trip. These included sunscreens, water shoes, and neoprene vests. Dr. Robinson advised the students to fully embrace the experience while keeping in mind their main objective which is to collect as many FADs as possible. “You’ve got all the tools at your disposal and what we want to see at the end of the mission is a lot of important information coming back from you, in particular from SFA to provide that information to us. It’s really important we know everything you are doing on a daily basis to try and locate and recover FADs so that we can report that to those who put the FADs in the water in the first place about how difficult it is to collect these devices.”

On his part, Minister Ferrari wished the team luck and urged them to take precautions while at sea. He also thanked the SMA and SCG for their ongoing support and expressed hope that by the end of the trip, the students will have gained new insights and become advocates for such initiatives.