“When I was growing up, I remember a lot of fishermen fishing outside Port Victoria, near what we used to call the ‘Far’, the Victoria harbor Light House. In those days there were spawning aggregations of a species of groupers called 'vyey davril' every April. Fishermen knew to fish there for a big catch. This spawning site vanished even before the land reclamation because of overfishing.” Dr Shah, Nature Seychelles CEO said in introducing a workshop looking at the movements of two species of “kordonye” or rabbitfish, herbivorous fish of importance to the local fishery, when they aggregate for spawning.

White eye photo by Julie Gane

A British veterinary charity Wildlife Vets International aims to help prevent critically endangered birds and animals, which are unique to the islands of Seychelles and Mauritius, from following the Dodo and Mauritius giant tortoise into the history books.With no wildlife veterinary expertise available on the islands to support one of the richest biodiversities in the world, WVI is mapping out a programme to deliver veterinary aid and training within the Indian Ocean Biodiversity Hotspot. 

Nature Seychelles' Eric Blais (Cousin Island Special Reserve Coordinator) just attended a one day workshop together with other local civil society and private sector organisations in Seychelles that have an interest in tuna and tuna-like fishery. The consultative workshop was an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). The meeting which was held at Seychelles Fishing Authority premises on the 27th November 2014 was aimed at information and experience sharing in a bid to influence tuna fishery national and regional processes, with the hope of “promoting stock sustainability and maximize socio-economic benefits from these resources.”

Aerial view of Fregate Island home to 59 warblers translocated in 2011; photo credit David Wright

The movement of individuals of an endangered species to a new location to establish a new population is a common tool used by conservationists worldwide. Creating new populations increases the total number of individuals alive and also reduces the risk of extinction by increasing the number of independent populations. This is especially important for small, isolated island populations of rare species which may have filled all available habitat but cannot colonise new islands by themselves.