News and Blogs

  1. Latest News
  2. Cousin Island News
  3. Blue Economy Seychelles
  4. Green Health Blog
  • Research: Roaming seabirds need ocean-wide protection, research shows

    Unlike other oceans, which are known to have specific “hotspots” where predators, including seabirds, gather in large numbers to feed, the Indian Ocean lacks such concentrated feeding areas, a recent paper has revealed. This lack of hotspots is particularly concerning given the various threats seabirds face due to human activities.[…]

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  • Saya de Malha leaves for its third dFAD clean-up expedition

    (Seychelles Nation) The Saya de Malha vessel of the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) left Port Victoria yesterday afternoon for its third drifting Fishing Aggregate Devices (dFAD) expedition clean-up exercise in Seychelles territorial waters and shores of the outer islands. As customary since the first expedition in October 2022, students from Seychelles[…]

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Coming Soon!

Coral Aquaculture Facility!

coral aquaculture web banner

We have started work on the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility to revolutionise our coral reef restoration process Learn more

Find Us On ...

Implementing the SDGs

At Nature Seychelles we are committed to working with government, development partners and donors in implementing relevant actions, in particular, looking at certain goals where we can build on our existing strengths. Read more

Seychelles Wildlife

Natural environment of the Seychelles

Seychelles is a unique environment, which sustains a very special biodiversity. It is special for a number of different reasons. These are the oldest oceanic islands to be found anywhere...

Bird Watching

Seychelles is a paradise for birdwatchers, you can easily see the unique land birds, the important sea bird colonies, and the host of migrants and vagrants. Some sea bird...

Seychelles Black Parrot

Black Parrot or Kato Nwar in Creolee is brown-grey in colour, not truly black. Many bird experts treat it as a local form of a species found in Madagascar and...

Fairy Tern

The Fairy (or white) Tern is a beautiful bird seen on all islands in Seychelles, even islands like Mahe where they are killed by introduced rats, cats and Barn Owls....

Introduced Land Birds

A little over two hundred years ago, there were no humans living permanently in Seychelles. When settlement occurred, people naturally brought with them the animals and plants they needed to...

Native Birds

Although over 190 different species of bird have been seen on or around the central islands of Seychelles (and the number is increasing all the time), many of these are...

Migrant Shore Birds

Shallow seas and estuaries are very rich in invertebrate life. Many birds feed on the worms, crabs and shellfish in these habitats; often, they have long bills for probing sand...

Seychelles Magpie Robin

The most endangered of the endemic birds, Seychelles Magpie Robin or Pi Santez in Creole, came close to extinction in the late twentieth century; in 1970 there were only about...

Seychelles Blue Pigeon

The Seychelles Blue Pigeon or Pizon Olande in Creole, spends much of its life in the canopy of trees and eats the fruits of figs, bwa dir, ylang ylang and...

Seychelles White-eye

The Seychelles White-eye or Zwazo Linet in Creole, is rare and endemic. They may sometimes be seen in gardens and forest over 300m at La Misere, Cascade and a few...

Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher

The Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher or the Vev in Creole is endemic to Seychelles, you cannot find this bird anywhere else on earth. Although it was once widespread on...

Seychelles Sunbird

The tiny sunbird or Kolibri in Creole, is one of the few endemic species that has thrived since humans arrived in the Seychelles.

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Achievements

  • Stopped near extinctions of birds +

    Down-listing of the critically endangered Seychelles warbler from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. Other Seychelles birds have also been saved including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Fody, and the Seychelles
  • Restored whole island ecosystems +

    We transformed Cousin Island from a coconut plantation to a thriving vibrant and diverse island ecosystem. Success achieved on Cousin was replicated on other islands with similar conservation activities.
  • Championed climate change solutions +

    Nature Seychelles has risen to the climate change challenge in our region in creative ways to adapt to the inevitable changing of times.
  • Education and Awareness +

    We have been at the forefront of environmental education, particularly with schools and Wildlife clubs
  • Sustainable Tourism +

    We manage the award-winning eco-tourism programme on Cousin Island started in 1970
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Sharks are at risk

The tragic death of Rolly Lesperance, apparently resulting from a shark attack, has shocked the nation. Despite rumors of foul play or other allegations, the incident has awoken a primal fear of shark attacks in many people. But the truth is that sharks are at risk and not us.


Shark jaws for sale in Victoria Market, Mahe © Jeff Watson

Sharks arose about 350 million years ago, have remained almost unchanged for the past 70 million years and still comprise a dominant group. Sharks almost never get infections, cancers or circulatory diseases. They can heal and recover from severe injuries.

Unfortunately, sharks are very vulnerable to fishing pressure because they are slow to mature. Each female only produces enough young to replace the population under low, natural levels of mortality. They cannot adapt by producing larger numbers of young to replace the huge quantities now being killed by man.

Fisheries that target sharks have resulted in serious population declines. The growth in many of these fisheries has been driven, at least in part, by the huge demand in international trade for shark products, particularly for fins to supply the East Asian shark fin soup market.
Sharks are also all too often captured in what is known as bycatch. In Seychelles for example, this is in tuna fisheries. Overall, it has been estimated that some 100 million sharks have been taken annually from the oceans of the world in recent years. Most of these are landed from multi-species fisheries or taken as bycatch, rather than caught by fisheries specifically targeting sharks.

Unregulated and illegal fishing is playing a part in the great purge of sharks from the world’s oceans. While oversized drift gill-nets are illegal, and regional fisheries organizations like the Indian Ocean Tuna Organization have taken measures to protect shark populations, enforcement is very difficult resulting in widespread poaching. It is now acknowledged that some shark species are actually threatened with extinction.

Unfortunately, sharks are not very convincing candidates for conservation because of their fierce appearance. In actual fact, only a tiny minority of sharks is known to attack man. Most sharks, unbelievable as it may sound, are harmless to people. There are only about 50 to 75 known shark attacks world-wide a year, and very few of these are fatal. In Seychelles shark attacks are so rare that even older fishermen cannot relate “shark bites man” stories.

Sharks should be protected for many reasons. Sharks are among the most important 'keystone' marine species. This means they have a very important role in maintaining the resilience of the marine environment. For example, they can regulate the balance between different fish species - when large sharks are removed, other commercially-important fish populations may be out-competed by less valuable fish which were formerly eaten by the sharks.

By Nirmal Shah, published on the People Newspaper on 18th August 2005

Partners & Awards

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Our History

Since 1998.

Seychelles Nature, Green HealthClimate Change, Biodiversity Conservation & Sustainability Organisation

@CousinIsland Manager

Facebook: http://goo.gl/Q9lXM

Roche Caiman, Mahe

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Contact Us

Centre for Environment & Education

Roche Caiman,

P.O. Box 1310, Mahe, Seychelles

Tel:+ 248 2519090

Email: nature@seychelles.net