The National Assembly has unanimously approved the amendment of the Export of Fishery 2003 Bill, to allow the inspection of freezer fishery vessels.

The Bill was presented on Tuesday March 25, by Minister William Herminie of the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, in the National Assembly, following a request by the European Union, with which Seychelles enjoys special concessions of export of fishery products to its member countries.

Inspection of vessels linked to export of fishery products was previously being aimed at factory vessels only and was being carried out by the Veterinary Division. Under the new amendment, tests on the freezer vessels will be carried out with support of the Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS).

The three members of the Assembly who intervened, namely the Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Wavel Ramkalawan, the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Patrick Herminie and the elected member for Anse Royale, Hon. Barry Faure, all spoke in favour of the amendment.

Hon. Ramkalawan welcomed the move to amend the Bill, saying that it was necessary for Seychelles to continue improving the standards and quality of its fishery products to satisfy the requirements laid down by the EU, its most important partner in the fishery export industry.

On his side, Hon. Herminie pointed out that besides reinforcing the existing partnership between Seychelles and EU, the amendment also represented the organisation's growing confidence in Seychelles' ability to continue maintaining an extremely high standard of its fishery products and services.

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