A New Industry

From Our Archives A Glimpse into 1960

A fully developed fishing industry is vital to the economy: it supplies affordable food, reduces import costs, and generates foreign currency through exports

By Peter Ibbotson

The development of the fishing industry is clearly something which should best be left to private enterprise, with assistance from the Government towards such development. At present the industry provides only a small part of the country’s national income, and although it is doubtful whether it will ever become a substantial revenue earner, considerable development is most certainly possible and practicable.

The current situation in Mauritius is that about 2,000 tons of fresh fish are available each year—2,100 tons in 1958 and 2,200 tons in 1957. Salt fish is imported from the dependencies (Rodrigues and St Brandon), while canned fish comes from Morocco, Portugal, Japan, Canada, South Africa, and the Netherlands. Additional salt fish imports come from the UK, Hong Kong, India, Seychelles, South Africa, and China. Apart from the canned salmon and sardines, and the prawns and Bombay Duck (Bombil) from India, there is little or no reason why this imported fish should not be largely replaced by local catches. The 2,100 tons of fish available locally in 1958 were supplemented by 601 tons imported from the dependencies, and 1,553 tons (salted and canned) imported from foreign sources. It is this last figure, only one-third of which accounted for by prawns, bombay duck, salmon and sardines, which ought to be drastically reduced. After all, the fish imported from the UK, Holland and South Africa is fish caught and prepared at European wage rates; as such, it is clearly more expensive than the same fish caught and prepared at Mauritian wage rates. As I have said in earlier articles, it should be a cardinal aim of the development of Mauritius to replace the imported article by locally-produced articles, provided that the locally-produced article costs no more than the imported. (There is also a case for paying more for the locally-produced goods if their excess cost, over and above the imported price, is lower than the unemployment benefit that would otherwise have to be paid).

Most of the fishing is at present undertaken in the lagoon area around the coast. Some 95 square miles of lagoon area are available, but 25 square miles are reserves where fishing is permitted only two or three times a year; so that the effective fishing area is 70 square miles of lagoon. At present we can add the shallow water to the north (Round Island and Flat Island Bank) and — to a much more limited extent — south-west; some additional 325 square miles of water which are regularly fished, although with far smaller catches than are obtained from the lagoons. It is estimated that the annual production from the whole fishing area (75 square miles of lagoons and 325 square miles of coastal shelf, or 400 square miles in all) is only one-third of what could be locally absorbed, were the additional fish available.

Since, however, the lagoon fishing is already exploited to its fullest extent, any extension of fishing would have to be in the form of deep-sea fishing. Some years ago, the big catches of unicorn fish at Round Island aroused interest in deep sea fishing, and many motorised and sail pinnaces operated in the area until, of course, overfishing set in and catches decreased as the unicorn fish population fell. Only a few pinnaces now undertake deep sea fishing, and the small number actually engaged are operating at a profit.

If there were boats which operated at a greater distance from Mauritius than Round Island, it is very probable that larger catches would be made. The whole conception of fishing would, of course, have to undergo a radical alteration. What is needed, in all probability, is a small fleet of decked vessels, about 40 or so feet in length, diesel-powered, with ice boxes or refrigerating plants to enable them to keep their catches fresh for some time. There is little reason why such vessels should not be built locally, under the joint guidance of someone experienced in their commercial use, and local experts. The design of such vessels should be tested in use, and their commercial operation (which involves fishing techniques and equipment) should also be tested by the same joint effort.

It would seem desirable for the Government to engage on contract a fisheries development officer who has had practical experience in the design, construction and commercial operation of such vessels. Such an officer would design and supervise the construction of such a vessel and then test both design and method of operation by fishing on a basis as nearly commercial as possible. This work would lead to the development of the most suitable design of vessel for commercial deep-sea fishing and to the evolution of fishing techniques by the fisheries development officer and the local fishermen working with him. Once the most suitable design had been evolved and facilities for training navigators had been established (practical training for fishermen, both in a technical school and at sea, with a view to ensuring a trained supply of masters and mates, is an essential concomitant of any development of deep sea fishing), the vessels could be built by the Government and chartered to private operators; the vessel could be crewed either by privately – employed masters, mates and men; or the crews could be Government employees fulltime.

The provision of such deep-sea vessels would call also for fairly extensive cold storage facilities ashore. These cold storage facilities would be needed for a number of reasons. First, to store bait, so that fishermen did not have to catch their bait before starting their day’s fishing. Second, to store fish for short periods; this would help to even out sales, avoid fluctuations in prices and avert low-priced gluts and high-priced scarcities, and hold fish fillets in deep freeze for sale to visiting ships needing victualling. Third, to supply ice to fishermen who have equipped their boats with ice boxes (instead of refrigerators) to preserve their catches.

The principal reason for developing the fishing industry is the domestic market which could, as I have said, absorb three times as much fish as it at present does. Provisioning vessels calling at Port Louis would provide a steady and not insignificant trade in fresh fish fillets; but it is from the point of view of home consumption that fishing development assumes the utmost importance. Fish is a rich source of protein, in which too many Mauritians’ diets are deficient. It is cheaper than meat and is therefore the source of protein most easily available to the poorest section of the population. And if the tourist industry is to be developed to any extent, as we hope it is, then the hotels will need regular and plentiful supplies of fish. Since the offshore lagoon fishing grounds are already exploited to their fullest extent, it is clear that any significant line of development must necessarily be in deep-sea fishing; along the lines I have suggested, using larger vessels more adequately equipped.

Nonetheless, the possibility of developing an export trade in fish must not be overlooked. Seychelles already has a significant export trade of dried fish to Ceylon and dried shark to East Africa; and could expand her exports of dried fish, to the East African market, if additional supplies were available. There is no reason why the Mauritian fishing industry could not be likewise developed, in order to tap the ready export market of East Africa. Nor is it altogether outside the realm of possibility that a fish cannery be set up (probably foreign expertise and CDC capital would be necessary).

Fiscal measures would be helpful in developing this aspect of the industry: for example, tax holidays for firms exporting salt fish to foreign markets, and possibly protection for a local fish cannery. Loans to fishermen to develop their own operations could be made at low rates of interest, possibly even free of interest. Certainly, the individual fishermen must be rescued from the rapacious maws of the middlemen. A fully developed fishing industry has a vital role to play in the economy, in three main ways: it provides a cheap and abundant source of food; it saves foreign currency by reducing dependence on imports; and it earns foreign currency through exports. The first step would seem to be the appointment of a technical fisheries expert (on loan from the Colonial Office perhaps): who might perhaps get someone with authority to pay some attention to the Ommanney Report, which refers to a 1953 report on fisheries in the Indian Ocean.

7th Year – No 324
Friday 11th November, 1960

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