John Nevill

Who I am

Although I was born and educated in the UK, I am now a naturalised Seychellois. I have always been fascinated by nature and particularly the conservation and management of tropical ecosystems. For the more than 30 years that I have lived in Seychelles, I have been working in biodiversity conservation and management and related strategic planning. I started off working on endemic bird species and island ecosystem restoration, then served for six years as the director of conservation in the Department of Environment with portfolio responsibility for national biodiversity conservation and management. A little over 20 years ago I began researching the shark fishery in Seychelles: its history, economic and technical drivers, and its current status. It soon became apparent that contemporary data and understanding of the fishery were acutely lacking. The more I researched, the more I realised the real need for further research and work – I was hooked! I did my MSc thesis on the history and development of the Seychelles’ shark fishery, which led to my employment to develop the nation’s first National Plan of Action (NPOA) for the conservation and management of sharks. In 2012 I began monitoring the artisanal shark catch and maintained a database, which to date has more than 32,000 sharks and wedgefish (from 25 species) and 3,000 rays (from 11 species) on it. In 2015 I authored the Seychelles’ second NPOA, and four years later I launched Seychelles Seatizens, a national marine fish identification website and database. I now devote much of my professional life to management-oriented research into the Seychelles’ artisanal fishery.

Where I work

I work in the beautiful Republic of Seychelles, my adopted home, in the Western Indian Ocean. This archipelago of 115 islands, constituting several groups, is spread across a vast Exclusive Economic Zone of some 1.37 million square kilometres (528,960 square miles). I am based on the principal island of Mahé, which is home to the national capital Victoria and where approximately 90% of the artisanal catch is landed. The Seychelles’ artisanal fishery is of vital socio-economic importance and has a highly diverse species’ composition.

What I do

I monitor the Seychelles’ artisanal fishery catch. Having undertaken projects to survey and assess the parrotfish and grouper fisheries, I try to identify all species I encounter so as to compile a comprehensive account of the fishery’s species’ composition and update the Seychelles Seatizens website accordingly. My particular interest, however, is the artisanal elasmobranch fishery, which has been my main focus for the past 12 years. The protocol is to monitor catch in the early morning four days a week at the national fish market and various key landing sites, and I work closely with fishers and vendors so that a sound baseline can be established for the informed management of the fishery in the future.