Agulhas and Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystems Project

History

• The first record of Mauritius comes from Arab and Malay sailors, who discovered the island as early as the 10th century. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore Mauritius in 1507. It was subsequently held by the Dutch, but they abandoned it in 1710 because of tough climatic conditions. France seized Mauritius in 1715, renamed it Île de France (Isle of France) and developed a prosperous economy based on sugar production.
• During the second half of the 18th century, the island’s capital, Port Louis, became a haven for corsairs. These were mercenary marines, paid by France to plunder the ships of their enemies. The corsairs frequently took British vessels as they sailed between India and Britain, laden with valuable goods. As a result, the British decided to move in on Mauritius and in 1814 it was formally ceded to Great Britain. The island’s name reverted to the original ‘Mauritius’.
• Mauritius was granted independence from Britain on 12 March 1968 and became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1992. The country has a complex ethnic mix but it is a stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record.
• The current President of Mauritius is Anerood Jugnauth. The Prime Minister is Navinchandra Ramgoolam.

Geography

• Mauritius lies about 800 km east of Madagascar. It is 61 km long and 46 km wide at the extremes and has a total land area of approximately 1,865 km².
• Mauritian territory also incorporates the island of Rodrigues, some 600 km to the east, and two small dependencies to the north, the Agalega Islands and the Cargados Carajos Shoals. Both of these are unpopulated.
• Mauritius’s 330 km of coastline is almost entirely surrounded by coral reefs. These form many shallow lagoons, white sandy beaches and dunes.
• The island consists of a central plateau which is surrounded by a broken ring of mountain ranges. The mountains are steepest towards the centre of the island.
• The local climate is tropical. There is a warm, dry winter from May to November and a hot, wet, humid summer from November to May. Cyclones affect the country between November and April.
• The island’s capital and largest city is Port Louis, in the northwest. Other important towns are Curepipe, Vacoas and Phoenix.

Demographics

• Mauritius has a population of approximately 1,250,882.
• The majority of the republic’s residents are descendants of people from the Indian subcontinent. Mauritius also contains substantial populations from continental Africa, Madagascar, France, Great Britain and China.
• The official language of Mauritius is English. French predominates in the media, both broadcast and printed, as well as with business and in corporate affairs. Mauritian Creole, which has close ties with French pronunciation, is the most widely-spoken language.
• The largest religions are Hinduism (52%), Roman Catholicism (28%), and Islam (16.6%). Buddhism (2.5%), Adventist Protestantism (2%) and Sikhism (0.3%) also feature.

Economy

• Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has moved from a poor, agriculturally based country with high unemployment to a relatively prosperous and diversified economy. For most of this period, annual growth has been between 5% and 6%. Mauritius has the second highest GDP per capita in Africa.
• The economy is mainly dependant on sugarcane, tourism, textiles and services and is expanding into fish processing.
• The government’s development strategy centres on foreign investment. Through this strategy, Mauritius has attracted 9,000 offshore entities, many of them Indian and South African.
• The official currency of Mauritius is the Mauritian rupee (MUR).

• By 2007, 100% of the population of Mauritius had access to safe water and adequate sanitation. The public health care sector provides free health care to all citizens of Mauritius.
• Primary education is free and compulsory until the age of 12. In 2000, 84.4% of the population was literate.
• Mauritius has a comprehensive system of paved roads which provides access to all parts of the island. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport is situated 48 km outside Port Louis.
• Mauritius’s deep water port is situated in Port Louis. It has three main terminals and offers facilities such as a ship repairs and a bulk sugar terminal.
• A plan is underway for Mauritius to become the first country to have complete nationwide broadband wireless internet access. This will be achieved through the establishment of a network of ‘smart antennas’ with a wide range of coverage.

Marine environment

Fisheries

• There are 61 landing stations along the coast of Mauritius from which artisanal fishers operate. These fishers use wooden pirogues of between six and ten meters to fish inside lagoons and on the outer reef. They use basket traps, hook-and-line, harpoons, large nets and gillnets. In 2004, there were 2,256 active artisanal fishermen in Mauritius. The main catch species are the lethrinids (emperor fish), scarids (parrot fishes), siganids (rabbit fishes) and mullets. Bank fishing takes place on the shallow banks of the Mascarene Plateau, about 500 km north of Mauritius. Here fishers operate from dories: boats with narrow, flat bottoms, high bows, and flaring sides. Fishing voyages last for between 30 and 60 days, The catch is consumed locally and represents around 30% of total fish consumption in Mauritius.
  The tuna fishery is the major industrial fishery in Mauritius. It accounts for about 40% of the annual catch, and supplies raw material to the local tuna canning factory. Export of canned tuna represents more than 90% of Mauritian exports in fish and fish products. Tuna is fished by either purse seine or longline ships.
  The fishery sector in Mauritius accounts for one percent of GDP and employs approximately 11,000 people.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius
http://www.wcs.org/international/marine/marineafrica/madagascarmarine
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/mauritius/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mp.html
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2833.htm
http://www.fao.org/fi/fcp/en/MUS/profile.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_of_Mauritius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius