Search

(…) To support the challenges ahead in the development of an ocean economy, the regulatory framework is being reviewed to (i) accommodate new activities, (ii) improve governance and ensure effective fisheries management, and (iii) conserve marine eco-systems.

Increasing efforts are being made to (i) exploit and manage resources sustainably through an ecosystem approach to fisheries and (ii) re-enforce maritime surveillance capabilities to combat IUU fishing in collaboration with regional and international institutions to prevent depletion of fish stocks, destruction of marine habitats and distortion of competition that puts fishers who are honest at an unfair disadvantage.

The overall policy vision for the fisheries subsector, set out in the Government Programme 2012-2015, is to make Mauritius, "within the next ten years, a nation fully conscious of its immense potential as an Ocean State" (see Chapter 2). Policy priorities are to increase revenue, maintain employment, increase local and foreign investment and ensure resource sustainability. (…)

The Interim [Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA) with the European Union] contains a detailed and elaborate chapter on fisheries which aims at optimizing the benefits from fisheries through investment, capacity building and improved market access as well as conservation and management of fisheries resources.

The Ocean Economy initiatives, including among others - (i) deep ocean water applications, (ii) offshore wind energy, (iii) wave/tidal energy, (iv) marine hydrocarbon and mineral exploration and exploitation, (v) improvement of Mauritian capacity in marine biotechnology and marine bio-product and (vi) off-shore aquaculture development will further boost the objective of realizing the full potential of the maritime zones of Mauritius.

Mauritius has an Exclusive Economic Zone of nearly 2 million square kilometres and has recently been conferred, together with the Seychelles, an additional seabed area of nearly 400,000 square kilometres. The strategy is to use the ocean and its underlying seabed as the next frontier for sustainable development. Mauritius has a conspicuously underutilised asset in terms of its extensive maritime zone. The potential in the ocean economy is considered enormous and would be instrumental for the creation of high-productivity jobs and improving the standard of living of the people.

Another priority area is the mapping and stock-taking of the living marine organisms within the Mauritius Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The untapped living organisms in the EEZ can also bring significant earnings to our emerging marine biotechnology industry if new molecules that can be commercially exploited are found. Research Institutions in Mauritius are already operating in this field by exploring and preserving the wealth of information contained in the genes (DNA) of rare and ecologically critical marine organisms. With the required infrastructures, institutional and legal framework, and the proposed development of an ocean genome, an increased emphasis on research and their commercialisation is expected in the near future with emphasis laid on conservation of marine biodiversity and sustainability of aquatic resources.

As a small island developing state, Mauritius is vulnerable due to the exiguity of its market, geographical isolation, its proneness to natural disasters, among others and its exposure to trade shocks. In this regard, Mauritius has been at the fore regarding the elaboration of a Work Programme for Small Economies in accordance with Paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.. (…)

Table 3.12 Value of procurement by procuring entity, 2012
(…)
Procuring entity: Waste Water Management
Contract value approved (MUR million): 94

The challenges faced by the Mauritian non-sugar agricultural sector are multi-fold and comprise of pressures on land resources, climate change and climatic uncertainties, rising costs of imported inputs, increased exposure to pests, (…)