Africa-Press – Mauritius. A Certificate Award Ceremony for 61 fishers from Poudre d’Or, Le Morne and Bambous Virieux having successfully completed a training programme of coral culture and reef rehabilitation was held, yesterday, at the Mauritius Maritime Training Academy in Pointe aux Sables. The Minister of Blue Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries and Shipping, Mr Sudheer Maudhoo, was present for the ceremony.
The training of fishers is one of the project outputs of the United Nations Environment Programme through its Strategic Action Programme for the protection of the Western Indian Ocean from land-based sources and activities (UNEP-WIOSAP) Coral Culture for Small Scale Reef Rehabilitation in Mauritius Training Programme.
The project is partly an extension of the Mauritius Oceanography Institute’s (MOI) on-going community-based coral culture project. In his address, Minister Maudhoo said that the UNEP-WIOSAP Coral Culture for Small Scale Reef Rehabilitation project stands as a beacon of hope amidst the critical challenges facing our oceans and coral reef ecosystems.
‘By focusing on the conservation and restoration of coral reefs, this initiative has not only demonstrated the power of collaboration but has also exemplified the potential of sustainable practices in the blue economy’, he underlined.
He recalled that the project is in line with the Governmental initiative of promoting coral culture as a means of subsistence for fishers and the coastal community as regards the conservation of the marine biodiversity.
The coral rehabilitation project, he observed, has reinforced resilience of fragile ecosystems and has led to its rehabilitation. Reaffirming his commitment to support such initiatives, Minister Maudhoo insisted on the need to preserve our ecosystems so as to ensure the future of coming generations.
He highlighted that it is important to work in close collaboration with organisations, Governmental institutions and other stakeholders for the protection and sustainable use of marine resources.
Addressing the fisher community, he dwelt on several measures put in place by Government to ensure that they and their families enjoy a better quality of life.
These include: increase in Bad Weather Allowance, implementation of Retirement Scheme, increase in Canotte Scheme, increase in fishermen cards, writing-off of loans for fishermen who have passed away, and increase in Scholarship Scheme for children of fishers by 30%.
The coral culture for small scale reef rehabilitation project In 2021, the MOI initiated a coral culture for small scale reef rehabilitation in Mauritius project funded by the UNEP-WIOSAP.
This two-year project was an extension of the MOI’s community-based coral culture project that was undertaken at three additional sites namely, Le Morne, Bambous Virieux and Poudre d’Or, where resilient fast growing coral species and some selected locally rare and threatened species were mass cultured in locally adapted multi-layered rope nurseries prior to transplantation to recipient degraded reef sites.
Farm and coral garden set-up, monitoring, maintenance and management were undertaken by trained community members. This project fundamentally contributed to the on-going national reef rehabilitation initiative through the expansion of restoration efforts at the three above mentioned selected sites.
Over the past decade, the MOI has successfully developed and optimised locally adapted techniques for culture of corals on-land and at sea for conservation purposes. Building on these results, the MOI initiated in 2017, a community-based coral culture project in the Republic of Mauritius.
This project fundamentally contributed to the on-going national reef rehabilitation initiative through the expansion of restoration efforts at the three above mentioned selected sites.
The main objectives of the project are to: mitigate the impact of climate change on coastal communities by implementing coral reef restoration initiatives through the following actions; set-up of sea-based demonstration farms for culture of selected resilient corals for rehabilitation of degraded reef sites; train stakeholders and coastal communities in coral culture and reef rehabilitation techniques hence providing additional skills to the communities; and strengthen environmental awareness of the community, to emphasise the significance and conservation aspects of corals and coral reefs.
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