18 Aug 2005

Does the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission have a poor environmental record?

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), headquartered in Seychelles, has been reported as having one of the poorest environmental performances of all the 19 Regional Fisheries Management Organizations of the world. This was highlighted in a BirdLife International report launched at the 26th Session of the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries being held this week in Italy. The BirdLife review identifies the regional fisheries organizations that are not preventing the slaughter of the world’s albatrosses in longline fisheries.

04 Aug 2005

Hope for Abbots Booby

Once upon a time, some men came to an island in Seychelles, mined it and in the process destroyed an entire population of birds found there. The men were guano miners, the island Assumption and the birds Abbott’s Booby (fou bef). This bird is now to be found breeding only on Christmas island which belongs to Australia. It has been classified as Critically Endangered, the highest threat category for living species in the Red List of the World Conservation Union (IUCN)

04 Aug 2005

Climate Change and Chikungunya

The Ministry of health and Social Affairs have reported several cases of this disease in Seychelles.

Chikungunya is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes, especially Stegomyia aegypti (Aedes aegypti) and Aedes albopictus. The latter known as the Asian Tiger Mosquito is common in Seychelles. Both are also implicated in the spread of dengue fever. The name of the disease comes from a Swahili word which means "that which contorts or bends up", referring to the contorted posture of patients.

28 Jul 2005

Are Killer Mice a danger to Seychelles?

Supersize mice are eating seabird chicks alive on Gough Island, my colleagues at the RSPB in UK informed me this week.

21 Jul 2005

Bio-Terror weapon from Viruses in Fruit Bats?

In October 2002 in an article in this newspaper, I brought readers’ attention to the Nipah and Hendra viruses that are spread by fruit bats to liverstock and eventually to humans. Although there are no known cases of direct transmission from fruit bats to humans and although the viruses have not been identified in Seychelles, a potential danger may exist, even remotely, in a rapidly changing and globalising world.

Does the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission have a poor environmental record?

Hope for Abbots Booby

Climate Change and Chikungunya

Are Killer Mice a danger to Seychelles?

Bio-Terror weapon from Viruses in Fruit Bats?

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