The Meeting of the JC was held at the Savoy Hotel 22nd February 2025 and was co-chaired by Ambassador K. Racombo on the Seychelles side and Mr. D.K. Dabee, GOSK, SC legal Adviser/Consultant on the Mauritius side. The JC was preceded by the Technical Committee (TC) lead by Mr. P. Michaud, Consultant on the Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy and Dr. Razah Badal, Director General, Department for Continental Shelf, Maritime Zones Administration and Exploration.
The Seychelles delegation consisted of several experts covering a wide range of fields such as legal, petroleum exploration, environment, fisheries, coast Guard, Blue Economy and geographical information services.
These meetings form part of regular discussions, which have been ongoing since the bilateral treaties were signed in 2012 concerning the management of the Saya de Malha area.
The main new item in this session, which was discussed, concerned the proposal from Seychelles for a spanner crab exploratory fishing. In view of the particular legal regime concerning living resources on the extension of the continental shelf, it was recommended that the Seychelles side will conduct a desktop scientific study on spanner crabs that would assist in forming a legal opinion as to whether the spanner crab in the Joint Management Area (JMA) could be classified as a sedentary species under article 77 of UNCLOS. Should this be confirmed bilateral discussions will take place for this fishing activity to proceed.
The ongoing exploratory fisheries, for sea cucumber being carried out by six Seychellois operators was reviewed. The next step will be the carrying out of a scientific stock assessment to ensure the sustainability of the fishery. The modalities for carrying out these studies will be discussed at the next meeting.
The meeting was appraised of the results of the negotiations for a Multi-Client survey. This agreement, which is an advanced stage of negotiations, should finalised within the next few months and could eventually lead to hydrocarbon exploration in the JMA.
The meeting was also briefed on the Monaco Expedition Science to Policy workshop, which is planned to take place in November in Mauritius. This follows from the Monaco Exploration Indian Ocean Expedition which took place in the region between October to November 2022 and where scientists from both regions participated.
The meeting discussed about the state of the existing cooperation between the two national coast guards. Surveillance activities are necessary to protect this area from various illegal activities and it was agreed that there was a need to include the JMA area in the ongoing Programme Regional de Surveillance des Pêches (PRSP) as presently the project focusses only on the Exclusive Economic Zone of member states, which comprises also of Mauritius and Seychelles.
Both countries were concerned about the issue of bottom trawling in the JMA and the need to advocate against this fishing method. This issue will be raised by both parties at the next meeting of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), which will be held in Mauritius this year. Participants will consult with each other prior to the SIOFA meeting in order to harmonize their positions.
The meetings took place in a cordial and constructive atmosphere and participants were hopeful that more progress will be achieved this year.
