AngelFish and “Hook-to-Cook” in Mauritius
The subsistence and small-scale fishers of Mauritius are under pressure from all sides. They find themselves at the forefront of the effects of climate change; coastal erosion, rising sea levels and cyclones. The lagoons and coral reefs on which they depend are continuously degrading due to ongoing human activities associated with overfishing, agricultural run-off, and pollution - the result being a decrease in catch, while the consumption of fish is on the rise in Mauritius.
The outbreak of Covid-19 deepened the crisis for Mauritius’ fishermen, resulting in a decrease in the local fish market due to a decrease in local spending power. In the South-East of Mauritius, the 2020 Wakashio oil spill made matters even worse, causing widespread environmental devastation and loss of livelihood to the local fishermen.
In the past, compensation schemes for bad weather days and training in additional income-generating activities were attempted by the Mauritian government, but historically ran into implementation difficulties. In the case of Covid-19 related losses and the 2020 oil spill, only registered fishers could benefit from the schemes. Being a largely informal sector, which also includes the activities of women on land, the roll-out was difficult and probably marked by missed opportunities.
Market Evolution for Small-scale Fisheries in Africa (MESA) is an international research project concerned with the economic inclusion of subsistence and small-scale fishers into local and international seafood markets.
The MESA Discovery Phase Project was conducted in Mauritius from November 2020 until April 2021, funded by Demonstrate Impact in Developing Countries Programme, which is part of the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
The MESA Discovery Phase Project focussed on testing three technologies and approaches with the eye on large-scale rollout across Mauritius and to subsistence and small-scale fishers internationally:
ABALOBI’s “Hook-to-Cook” platform, comprising of the Fisher catch and expense logging smartphone application (that allows fishers to digitally log their catches and expenses, and access real-time sea state and forecasting data) and digital Marketplace system (that connects fishers directly to markets and consumers);
exactEarth Europe’s exactTrax and exactSeNS satellite data communication and vessel tracking services; and
S3C’s solar powered AngelFish small vessel tracking and safety transponder device.
The S3C AngelFish represents the hardware telecommunications necessary to bring the other two elements in the project together, enabling ABALOBI’s fisher app to connect in real-time with exactEarth’s data and vessel tracking services.
Read more about this AngelFish case study at the Charles Telfair Centre.
