Octopus fishing closure

Following the succes of Rodrigues, where a two-month island-wide seasonal closure of the octopus fishery has been taking place every year since 2012, a pilot project with a 2 months voluntary closure of the octopus fishery was implemented this year in the south-west region of Mauritius, along the coastal strip extending from Le Morne to Souillac.

The project was divided in different phases:

• a feasibility study to establish whether a closure was possible or not (May-Jun 2015)
• awareness and training of both community members and MMCS staff to prepare for the closure (Jul 2015)
• the closure period, during which the trained community members carried out surveillance and was trained to do monitoring of the catch (10 Aug-10 Oct 2015)
• the period after the re-opening, with education sessions for children and youth in the villages in the project area and monitoring of the catch during selected dates  (10 Oct 2015-31 Jan 2016)