I am pleased to read on today’s newspaper that a report of the consultants on Aquaculture was given at a workshop destined to operators in the field. Both l’Express and le Matinal featured reports thereon. From what I have read on various reports of the FAO, Aquaculture will be a growing market of the future. The industry has grown by over tenfold in five years in Greece only.Aquaculture in Turkey is reported to grow even faster! On the other side, the EC has decreased the quota of the catch of wild fish in northern Europe to save the ecology and the eco-system of over exploitation of fish resources. Nature cannot sustain the level in some area and experts fear that some spices of fish may disappear forever. On the other hand the demand for fish is increasing.

The great advantage of Tropical Sea Aquaculture is that due to the higher temperature the rate of growth of the fish is much faster.

What are the main attractions of Mauritius as a world class Tropical Aquaculture center?

1. The sea region of Mauritius is very vast compared to the land region.

2. The sea region is off the polluted seafaring shipping lanes.

3. The industry is new and could be set up with the international norms in respect of the ecological requirement of today.

Idée the consultants commissioned for this study seems to advise that Mauritius could produce an annual 10000 tons of fish within the lagoon of Mauritius by developing expertise in floating nets. At a later stage, the same techniques could be extended to the deeper waters in our territory.Whilst it is necessary to have norms and rules establish by the authorities, I am skeptical to the contribution of the different government bureaucratic institutions to be set up as announced by our minister.

I dream of seeing complete floating farms and processing plants being implemented right in the middle of the Indian Ocean outside the cyclonic zone.