Cerf Island Conservation Programme

Coral reefs are in severe decline around the Seychelles and Cerf Island because of climate change, land reclamation, boat anchors, illegal fishing, and careless visitors. Our aim is to support the active rehabilitation of coral through the Cerf Island Conservation Programme (CICP).

How can you support this project?

There are three different ways that you can support Cerf Island Project and allow for the expansion of reef recovery activities, the purchasing of required materials, and fuel costs for visiting school groups as the CICP increases local community outreach. Your support will help the MCSS and the SSTF in the long-term, allowing them to carry out coral restoration on Cerf Island through the CICP.

• Support the Cerf Island Conservation cause by consulting their Facebook page
• Support the Cerf Island Conservation programme when you book with SeyVillas
• Adopt a coral in the Seychelles: coming soon!
• Make a difference at home

  There are many ways in which you can make a difference, starting at home. Recycling, upcycling, reusing single-use plastics (straws, plastic bags, take-away cutlery, plastic bottles), reducing heat and air-conditioner usage, reducing vehicle usage, eating less meat, being seafood-savvy, buying locally, and looking into renewable energy sources are just some examples of how you can contribute.

  You can find more information on the following websites:

  http://www.fao.org/news/story/es/item/197623/icode/
  https://www.plasticoceans.org/the-facts/
  http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/conserve/conservation/seafood-savvy

What is happening?

After tragic bleaching events in 1998 and 2016, as well as the tsunami of 2004, the coral reefs around the Seychelles and Cerf Island have been severely damaged. The already-slow process of coral recovery is further hindered by illegal fishing, harbour pollution, destruction of the reef through boat anchors, inexperienced snorkellers, and land reclamation projects.

Although coral reef rehabilitation is listed as a required activity in the Seychelles Sustainable Development Strategy for 2012-2020 (http://www.egov.sc/edoc/pubs/frmpubdetail.aspx?pubId=26), so far no funds have been allocated to carry out this project on Cerf Island. Nevertheless, the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS - http://www.mcss.sc) is using successful nursery techniques on a small scale to rehabilitate the reefs closest to Cerf Island Conservation Programme partners.

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  Seychelles Maritime Academy (SMA) student Farah Nasser encounters a Hawksbill Turtle
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  Chromis school over a dead patch of coral which died from the 2016 bleaching event

How does the project work?

The Cerf Island Conservation Programme is a community-based organisation which hosts the project leader, Savi Leblond, and up to three volunteers on the island. The CICP is funded solely by the private sector and the local community on Cerf Island. Each working day, the CICP team cleans the beaches of the island and provides guided snorkelling tours to clients staying in any of the CICP’s partner establishments (Cerf Island Resort, L’Habitation Hotel, Tropical Sanctuary, and Fairy Tern Chalets).

The CICP has adopted a coral-gardening concept in coral reef restoration. Rope nurseries for coral and artificial metal reef frames have both been built, maintained, and monitored. The CICP has also created media pamphlets, hosted various groups (school and recreational), and attended various events, workshops, and conferences. Since October 2015, 887 guests have already participated in guided snorkelling tours provided by the CICP. In October 2016, five artificial reef frames and two coral nurseries were added to the project. Lectures are given to all snorkelling clients before the guided tours at 10:30 (Monday - Friday) regarding the various threats to which corals have been subjected, as well as the various mitigation measures taken to rehabilitate the coral reefs. Clients are also provided with an understanding of what kinds of habitats and marine life they are likely to encounter, as well as proper encounter behaviour methods (no touching/standing on coral, no harassing of wildlife etc.). Customers cannot transplant corals themselves, the transplantation process must be carried out by trained individuals, as the success of the project depends on meticulous placement.

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  A healthy patch of Acropora coral (However it is now dead since the 2016 bleaching)
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  A school of herbivorous fish (parrotfish, surgeonfish and rabbitfish) graze the algae off of the natural reef and our artificial structures

Goals of the Project

• Guest enrichment
• Community engagement
• Promote awareness of reef biodiversity and fragility
• Reef monitoring
• Introducing artificial reef structures
• Colonising these structures with corals
• Transplanting reared corals onto natural substrates

What does the organisation do?

The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) has been supporting conservation projects since 1997. They are a non-governmental organisation, registered in the Seychelles, as well as an approved corporate social responsibility tax benefactor, which enables the private sector to make CSR tax payments to the MCSS in order to support some of their restoration efforts in the Cerf Island Conservation Programme (CICP). The MCSS counts has seen numerous successes, including their Environmental Mooring Project to implement over 40 mooring systems to avoid anchoring on reefs; the Seychelles Marine Ecosystem Management Programme (SEYMEMP), which develops strategies to cope with the impact of coral bleaching on key marine ecosystems; the strategic management of turtle populations, where a strategic approach to management of turtle populations was developed, as well as rookery monitoring and the formation of the Turtle Action Group of Seychelles; the Marine Mammal Conservation and Depredation Project which, in collaboration with local fishermen and the Island Conservation Society (ICS), trained individuals in the methods of monitoring marine mammals and defined the incidences of long-line depredation; the Wildlife Conservation Centre at Banyan Tree, which monitors the critically-endangered Hawksbill Turtle and freshwater Terrapins. With assistance from the Wildlife Vets International and local vets, the centre serves as an education centre, and many local schools visit the area. The team has also implement wetland rehabilitation projects and a bird census, and monitor the Endangered Whale Shark around Mahé with aerial surveys and photo identification.

More information on the history of the MCSS can be found here: http://www.mcss.sc/projects.html

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  At the recycling plant for PET bottles and Aluminium cans which are collected from the beach cleans and the hotels/guesthouses on Cerf Island
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  Me and SMA student Farah Nasser underwater. We are practicing her Reef ID

The project in detail

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  Victoria Accueil come for a snorkel tour on Cerf Island
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  Smiling clients after a satisfying guided snorkel tour