 We're voting everybody. It's a great pleasure to be amongst all of you here, when you're discussing such an important topic, which is of great importance to my country, Mauritius. Well, let me begin first by congratulating the International Institute for Environmental Development for Organising this Convention. Right at our set, I would like to let you know that I'm not an expert on the topic, but I would certainly share with you what Mauritius is trying to do to promote the blue, flasked ocean economy and sustainable development and management of our ocean. Mauritius, as you might know, has an EZ of 2.3 million square kilometres and an extended continental shelf of 396,000 kilometres square in the master ring platform, jointly managed with the Republic of Sessions. We are the world's 20th largest country in EZ size. We're the vast and largely untapped potential of our oceans. Mauritius has, therefore, since the last few years been engaged in developing the sector in a more structured and sustainable manner. Well, we started with the crafting of the of an ocean economy roadmap and the creation in 2015 of a ministry of ocean economy, marine resources, fisheries and shipping to pool under one roof all ocean-related activities. The vision of the government is to transform Mauritius into an ocean state by promoting ocean economy as one of its pillars of development. Our ocean economy roadmap initially focuses on actions in seven main clusters, ranging from fishing to marine renewable energies amongst others. Currently, contributing 10% to our GDP, our ocean economy is driven by established sectors, namely coastal tourism, fishing, seafood processing and port-related services. We are aiming to the consolidation of existing sectors as well as the development and nurturing of emerging sectors. New players have established themselves in the sustainable fishing sector, notably in industrial aquaculture, the development of a bunkering hut as well as the construction of a new jetty or search activities. While these new segments of this sector will obviously take some time to reach their full potential, we are hopeful that their development will enable the marine sector to become the economic pillar that we want and broaden the economic space of Mauritius. Let me now address some actions undertaken on a micro-level to promote and develop the marine sector in a sustainable manner. As a small island developing state, the importance of sustainable management of our ocean resources cannot be emphasised enough. Indeed, Mauritius has always advocated on the subject in international and regional fora, and the government has endeavoured to create conducive economic and fiscal infrastructure to encourage a more sustainable and environment-friendly exploitation of marine resources. Be it in the fishery sector or in the brooder marine sector. When it comes to the fishery sector, the sector has a very important historical and social-cultural importance to Mauritius. Traditional fishing is part of our folklore, and the economic sustainability of our small-scale fishermen has always been at the heart of government strategy in this sector. However, the traditional methods are no longer sustainable, nor are they economically viable. We have increased the pressure in the lagoon from coastal development, agricultural run-offs, industrial pollution and intense fishing activities inside the lagoon. In the early 2000s, the government came up with a policy to control lagoon-based activities so as to allow reef recovery from the compounding impact of unprecedented climate change and anthropogenic activities. All the measures adopted are shipped from the lagoon fishing to the offshore lagoon fishing around government-deployed and maintained fish aggregating devices. Coupled with training on fishing techniques and fiscal incentives to fishermen, have now significantly attenuated the impact of fishing on the marine ecosystem inside the lagoon, as well as significantly increasing catch for fishermen. The change in fishing methods and target species, such as albaco and yellowfin tuna, among others, has positively impacted on the fishermen community, which contributed to increasing catch-for-unit effort. Reduced search time and generated better income streams, thus gradually contributing to raising the standards on reef. The government in its last national budget has also announced several measures for the ocean economy, including financial incentives, such as a grant of 60% of the cost of acquisition of outboard and jeans and fishing nets by fishermen cooperatives, and body parts scheme introduced with financial compensation to fishermen for relinquishing their fishing nets among others. Aside from the fiscal policies, the government is also actively looking at supply-side policies, notably boosting a research capacity on the ocean economy, and in that regard, one of our oceanography institutes ends our fisheries research centre into one single institution. We are hopeful that such measures will contribute in creating a more effective and efficient fisheries sector, particularly for our small-scale fishermen community. When it comes to marine and coastal ecosystems, as you all know, the coral reefs harbor a range of all marine biodiversity, where a high productivity in the food chain and our imported carbon sector mitigate climate change and a barrier to beach erosion. Yet, reefs surrounding reefs are threatened by massive degradation, continuous pressure from a combination of natural and human-induced activities and climate change. Most of the anthropogenic induced impacts of gradually being addressed at a national level through environmental impact assessments, interministerial committees, policies, regulations and sensitization campaigns. Moreover, since the 90s, in order to reduce fishing pressure in the lagoon, the government has progressively formulated, reviewed and implemented several strategies through the proclamation and management of marine protected areas promoting fishing around the fish aggregating devices which I just referred to. We have also closed seasons for net and octopus fishing. We have extension of ban on sea cucumber fishing, amongst others. Prohibition on sand mining, coral removal and trade, interdicting jet ski activities in the waters of Mauritius have also proved to be essentially policy measures for effective management of coral reefs. Overall, it is our belief that in order to have an effective reef conservation plan, a multi-dimensional approach to reef research is central and emphasis on the biodiversity, ecological threats, thermally resistant species, of land city and vulnerable. We have also marines special plan which is being developed for a sustainable resources utilization while preserving the integrity and function of marine ecosystems in accordance with SDG 14. This marine special plan will embrace a multi-sectoral approach in the future coming up with an enhanced focus plan for the Republic of Mauritius through our UGZ and we cater for sustainable exploitation of marine space while avoiding conflicting usage to spatial overlapping. I am sure you are fully aware that at the level of the Commonwealth of Mauritius co-champions together with those three behind Belize the Action Group on Correlative Restoration and has joined the Clean Oceans Alliance spearheaded by the UK and Van Matu which is committed to tackling the problem of plastics in our oceans. It is also our intention to join the Aquaculture Action Group that will focus on the development of environmentally compatible, financially viable and socially acceptable aquaculture. Let me now come to the, I would believe, the most important segment of today's discussion which is inclusive governance policies. One major issue for us over years in this area has been illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing which Mauritius has endeavored to combat with a thorough out of measures taken both nationally and in collaboration with our regional and international partners. The government has adhered to the agreement to promote compliance and international conservation and management measures by fishing vessels on the high seas and the agreement related to the conservation management of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks of the United Nations Loan of the Sea. Mauritius also has, is also a member of several commissions in favour of the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishing resources. I'm not going to list over those commissions but I'm sure you are fully aware about all of them. At the national level a unit based at the port has been set up in Mauritius in 2009 to monitor the vessels of all fishing vessels, to monitor the activities of all fishing vessels calling in the port and to ensure that we are honouring our international obligations. Well in spite of the meaningful progress made over the years, more needs to be done in creating a better global understanding of the importance of a sound governance of the high seas and its keeper of importance in the development of a sustainable blue or ocean economy. We are hopeful as Mauritius that the ongoing high seas negotiations will bear fruit and produce the international legally binding instrument under the uncloss that we all need for the conservation and sustainable development of marine biological diversity in areas of beyond national jurisdiction. This thing with participants in all, you know, in our efforts in the sustainable development of our ocean economy we have come across certain challenges particularly for a small island nation like Mauritius, such as unavailability of local experts and highly prohibitive cost of services of overseas consultancy. We will need to invest more acquiring competencies such as marine ocean engineers and fisheries economic planners to lead and drive the ocean economic projects by building capacity to carry out high-tech research in the ESET. Similarly, the lack of scientific information on the resources available in the ESET is another constraint that needs to be addressed, especially in the absence of high-tech ocean research vessels for ocean data mining and expertise to collect scientific information on marine resources such as new fish stocks hydrocarbon mineral and gas. The central economic question around optimal use of economic resources also poses a challenge here and endanges competition among the various uses of the islands such as the tourist industry, fishermen, aquaculture operators and other coastal users to severe coastal squeeze. These are all challenges and policy gaps that the government is doing its best to address at the national level. However, the development of a sustainable blue economy cannot be effectively done without international cooperation and regional alliances. The cooperation of development partners, research agencies and indeed think tanks and institutes like the high IED are required in the areas such as trans-gov technology and knowledge, training and oceanographic research, collaboration, control and monitoring of regional waters to effectively combat IED balance. Before I conclude, I would like to assure you that Mauritius also stands ready to play his role and share his experience and lessons learned from the past years devoted to developing the ocean. I wish you all a fruitful section. Thank you for your attention.