INTRODUCTION

The Ocean Economy is bound to become a pillar of our economy. The Sugar Protocol has for long been a blessing for our rainbow nation, Mauritius- Island of Paradise. Through its preferential quota with the European Union, Mauritius has been able to distinguish itself from the remaining African countries and become one of the most successful economies of the Region. Thanks to the sugar Protocol, in any case, as it allowed Mauritius to derive revenue which would then be directed to other sectors in order to diversify the economy. The time has come now to look into the future and plan the economy otherwise and the Ocean hub is in line with this philosophy.

The EEZ and the Continental shelf. Richness and extent of our Ocean Rights

The Exclusive Economic Zone (“EEZ”) of the Republic of Mauritius extends over an area of about 2.3 million Km² (including approx. 400,000 Km² jointly managed with the Seychelles) and this makes Mauritius the 20th country in the world with the largest EEZ.The Mauritian Exclusive Economic Zone was significantly expanded to 1.9 million square kilometers following the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”), every coastal nation has a certain portion of the sea called the EEZ over which it has exclusive rights with regards to environment protection, fish stocks, exploration of mineral resources like oil, gas and metals, etc.

The co-management of 396 000 square kilometers of the continental shelf, with the Republic of Seychelles, enables us, henceforth, to rank among the largest economic territories in the world with a total EEZ area of 2.3 million square kilometers. The 2.3 million Km² of exploitable marine resources does not only provide Mauritius with a huge maritime zone to manage but also holds a massive potential for development that can change significantly the shape of the economy.

The exercise of its rights over the EEZ and Continental Shelf means that the country will have access to potentially vast natural and mineral resources in years to come.1This economic potential covers the exploitation of living and non-living resources in the Mauritius waters, on the seabed and in the subsoil. The development of the Ocean Economy will have significant positive impact on other industries including land and sea transportation, cargo and port services. The government’s aim is to make the Ocean Economy one of the most important future contributors of GDP.

Ambitious and innovative ocean-related projects will be initiated in the light of research to be undertaken, capacity to be built and technologies to be adopted. We are deploying every effort and muster all our resources, energies and human capital to harness the wealth of our oceanAlready, the ocean territory contributes significantly to the wealth of Mauritius. The GDPshare has been estimated at 10.8 per cent in 2012, with a value addition of MUR 32.5 billion,of which over 90 per cent currently comes from three established sectors – coastal tourism and marine leisure, seaport-related activities and seafood-related activities where significant scope for future growth exists.

As The Hon.Prime Minister voiced it out during the last Conference on the Ocean Economy held last year, Mauritius will be will be literally embarking on uncharted waters and strategies may have to be reconsidered as unforeseen challenges crop up. He further added, “… The sustainable development and growth of our ocean wealth will be supported by coherent planning, policies and regulatory frameworks in an integrated manner.”

BENEFITS OF OCEAN ECONOMY

Based on the above, seven clusters of activity have been identified as possible priority areas, namely 1.Seabed Exploration for Hydrocarbon & Minerals; 2.Fishing, Seafood Processing and Aquaculture; 3.Deep Ocean Water Applications (DOWA ), 4.Marine Services; 5.Seaport-related Activities; 6.Marine Renewable Energies 7.Ocean Knowledge.

We are going to focus on the seven clusters to illustrate the benefits of the Ocean Economy and while going through, we shall enumerate their respective legal implications in order that these benefits may be further exploited and optimised.

1. Seabed Exploration for Hydrocarbon and Minerals

We should complete prospection of the zones with the highest likelihood for hydrocarbon and mineral resources in our EEZ and Continental Shelf, including the necessary survey of living organisms. A large section of the spectacular bathymetric feature known as the Mascarene Plateau lies within the maritime zone of Mauritius. The discovery in 2009 of inactive hydrothermal fields by the Joint Mauritius and Japaneseexpedition within our EEZ indicates the likelihood of mineral deposits. In fact, previousinternational expeditions have also discovered fields of polymetallic nodules and mineralores in ocean basins close to our maritime zone.Explorations conducted on Saya de Malha and other seamounts of the Indian Oceanhave also uncovered distinctive biodiversity features, including seagrass biotope andfringing reef ecosystems.

Legal implication:

1. Licencing of rights for the development of commercial databases for multi-clientsurveys.2. Licensing of concessions to oil companies for prospection and eventually production.3. Regulations and statutory rules will have to be developed regarding Geoscience, marine extraction, marine-related environmental services. Further other legal contexts as well as technical and financial services required for the granting of concessions and exploration activities.4.Regulatory framework, Governance, Maritime safety, Security, Surveillance and Conservation and sustainability Programmes.

2. Fishing, Seafood Processing and Aquaculture

The seafood processing hub, along with aquaculture, should be amajor component of ocean activities and play a central role in export diversification and the consolidation of food security. Seaweed, oyster and oyster pearl cultures have also been successfully trialled and represent high economic potential. The fisheries and seafood processing sector represented 18.7 per cent of total exports in 2012In 2013, total output for fishing, seafood processing and aquaculture is estimated at178,500 tonnes representing revenue worth MUR 15.75 billion. Total employmentamounts to 12,150 jobs.Revenue in the sector is expected to increase at an average growth rate of 5 per centper year. The main activities in the sector are expected to grow as follows.As regards aquaculture, The present production will increase from 500 tonnes to 1,500 tonnes by 2015 and 8,000 tonnes by 2020.

Legal Implication :

1. Review of existing legislations to accommodate new activities such as seaweed, oyster and Pearl cultures.2. Re-inforcing Maritime Surveillance to cambat IUU fishing and fight Piracy with the collaboration of regional and international institutions 3. Devising and implementing a legal ecosystem approach with regard to resource exploitation

3. Deep Ocean Water Applications

The Ocean should account for a major share of renewable energy sources and become a significant pillar of our renewable energy policy. Mauritius straddles the Great Conveyor Belt that moves massive undercurrents around the globe and is positioned at a vantage point to exploit the mineral and nutrient-rich, cold deep sea water flowing in these undercurrents. The temperature of the water which drops to about 50 C at a depth of 1,000 meters is also ideal for the implementation of cost-efficient sea-water air-cooling projects that contribute to the reduction of green-house emissions.Favouring a private-sector driven approach and providing investors with the flexibility tochoose their project location, the Deep Ocean Water Applications (DOWA) sector has the potential to create numerous new industries and job prospects. Activities developed under DOWA can be categorised as upstream and downstream.DOWA upstream activities relate to the extraction of deep sea water for commercialapplications as well as green cooling. Downstream activities optimise on the properties of the nutrient-rich deep sea water for premium products such as high-end aquaculture and seaweed culture, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, water bottling and thalasso therapy, among others.

Legal Implications and Regulations : 1.Finalising the model DOWA and other operational parameters.2. Enforcements of Maritime safety policies through sensors and security of extracting zone.3. Amendment of the CWA Act to allow the sale of water by other operators apart from the CWA that is currently the sole agent entity authorised to sell water .4. Development of a District cooling Act for energy efficiency purposes.

4. Marine Services –

The Ocean Economy should serve as a major platform for playing out our efforts to make of Mauritius a high value-added services economy, by harbouring a regional platform for marine finance, ICT and ship registration based on successful country models. While the array of professional services that use or support the ocean are vast, this section looks at prominent ones such as marine-based tourism and leisure activities,marine ICT, marine finance, ship registry and marine biotechnology. Emerging marine-based leisure activities have significantly increased over the years and they currently contribute nearly MUR 1.26 billion to the national economy with employment estimated at 2,800 jobs. Mauritius has the potential to emerge as a centre for ocean technologies by leveraging the technical skills and ICT infrastructure available locally to support the development of the Ocean Economy and provide services for export. With new activities to be developed, this is projected to increase to MUR 1.84 billion by 2015 and attract private sector investments of MUR 4.3 billion. By 2020, a marina development, a marine park and thalassotherapy centres should create above 700 new jobs and private sector investments of approximately MUR 1.6 billion. The long-term potential of this sub-sector is estimated at MUR 5.2 billion supported by the expansion of new activities. As regards Marina development Mauritius is strategically positioned to capture part of the high-end nautical tourism market through marina development. A chain of 7 marinas in Mauritius can be developed with immediate opportunities for a city marina and a marina village at Vieux Grand-Port. Marine Finance - The financial services sector accounts for over 10 per cent of GDP (2012). The sector currently comprises major players in banking, insurance, capital markets, fundadministration and management, international legal services, brokerage houses, wealth management and investment advisory services. It directly employs some 12,000 highly skilled professionals.

Legal implications and regulations:Guidelines for: sea-angling equipment and material Non-motorised sailing craft operations, towing Operation of glass Bottom and Whale/dolphin watching boats ans sea Karting .System of Allocation for preservation of diving spotsTracking Marine financial activity Modernising the insurance legislation for marine covers.Consolidation of the Law Pertaining to ship registration.

5. Seaport-Related Activities

To develop Mauritius into a major hub in the region for petroleum products,container transhipment and port services.Strategically located at the crossroads of Asian and African sea routes, the Seaport ofMauritius contributes about 2 per cent to the country’s GDP and supports 99 per centof the country’s external trade. With increased south-south trade, Port-Louis Harbourwill be called to play a major role in the region.In 2011, the Seaport handled some 231,168 transshipment containers (TEUs) whichincreased to 316, 608 TEUs in 2012, an increase of 37 per cent. The direct revenueto MPA & CHCL from transhipment activities is around MUR 300 million for 2012.Transhipment traffic throughput is expected to increase by about 9 per cent annually to

reach 315,000 TEUs by 2015 and 350,000 TEUs by 2016.The Cruise segment registered an improvement during the period 2010/2011 with 27calls and 26,751 passengers. MPA extended the Port Limits in June 2013 to enable anchorage of large vessels for bunkering. The application of new tariffs with attractive incentives for shipping lines using Port-Louis for bunkering activities is also being implemented in the Port Fees Regulation to be gazetted shortly.Promoters have also expressed interest to use Mauritius as a hub for re-export ofpetroleum products, including LPG, to the region. The ship repairs sector employs some 400 people and is expected to grow at 5 per cent per annum. Mauritius should enhance thecompetitiveness of its port services including provision of ship stores, ship chandlingand ship spares among others. In addition, these ship services are expected to registerfurther growth with the increase in bunkering activities in the port.

Legal implication and Regulations :

1.Opening of importation of Petroleum products which is currently the sole responsibility of STC 2.Risk Mitigation strategy with regard to environmental concerns.3. Port Fees Regulations to be developed.

6. Marine Renewable Energies

The Ocean should account for a major share of renewable energy sources and become a significant pillar of our renewable energy policy. Marine renewable energies can amply contribute to our energy security and help inexceeding the expected target of 35 per cent of our electricity production from renewable energy sources. Preliminary research on offshore wind and ocean-wave energies in the waters of Mauritius and Rodrigues has yielded encouraging results. It is also believed that our ocean contains a high potential for ocean current, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), and ocean saline energies which in the long term may also contribute to our energy production.

Legal Implication and regulations:1. Framework for encouraging the testing of innovative marine renewable technologies in our EEZ .2. Legal and regulatory frameworks for Marine renewable energy products and their EIA.3. Policy binding targets for Primary Renewable Energy supply to be considered.

Ocean Knowledge Cluster

Mauritius should become a centre of excellence for Ocean Knowledge within the next 15 years, both as a support industry and an industry in its own right. With a view to positioning Mauritius as a regional platform for Ocean knowledge, an Ocean Centre of Excellence specialised in capacity building, research and advisory services will be set up both to cater for the needs of the Mauritian Ocean Economy and to service Small Island Developing States and coastal African countries.

Legal implication:

1. IPR mechanism to protect both Academia and industry rights on new discoveries

2. regulatory framework for the commercialisation of research outputs.3.Mandate for training and research institutions to access the sea, conduct file-based research and collect oceanic samples for research purposes.

CONCLUSION

With the direction given to the Ocean Economy and the upgrading of ocean researchcapabilities, new concepts and ideas should germinate and unleash economic activitiesthat can rapidly transform Mauritius into a high-income economy.The Ocean Economy should be a bridge to the future development of the country while setting the path for the coming generations, as the potential in the Ocean is enormous for growing the GDP, create high productivity jobs and improving the standards of living of the citizens.

Ocean economy is to become a major pillar of the Mauritian economy in the decades to come. The stakeholders of the Ocean economy are to be alerted and entrepreneurs about the immediate and future potential for beneficial business investment in the different sub-sectors of the Mauritian Ocean Economy must join hands together; to inform about the existing economic activities in the ocean economy of Mauritius; and to discuss about the challenges and hurdles for unleashing the full potential of economic activities of the economic zone of Mauritius more particularly with respect to inclusivity of all and sustainability of resources.

The level of skills is required to license and supervise ocean activities and the essential knowledge to tap the ocean. Last, but not least and what is of paramount importance is that Mauritius must have the right regulatory regime to guarantee discipline and hence success of the Ocean Economy .

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