Raphael Fishing Company

Raphael Fishing Company
	The Raphaël Fishing Company
Company type	Public, multiple shareholders
Industry	Sustainable Line Fishing
Founded	7 July 1927; 97 years ago in Port Louis, Mauritius
Headquarters	Port Louis, Mauritius, Port Louis Praslin Street, Port Louis & Île Raphael, Mauritius.
Number of locations	13 islands
Area served	Cargados Carajos Archipelago & Mauritius
Products	Fishing and Fisheries
Number of employees	40 -60

The Raphaël Fishing Company Ltd is a Mauritian fishing company incorporated on 7 July 1927 in Port Louis, Mauritius.^[1] It is the second oldest commercial company in Mauritius, after Mauritius Commercial Bank (1828).

The company is a fisheries company which is notable under common law for having set legal precedent in the conversion of its 123-year old unlimited jouissance (permanent lease/999-year lease) into a permanent grant^[2] by the UK Privy Council in 2008^[3] giving it title^[4] to thirteen islands known as The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon in the Indian Ocean on the isolated archipelago of the Cargados Carajos shoals.^[5]^[6]

Fishing operations

Raphael Fishing Company has resident fishermen and fishing stations on the Cargados Carajos shoals.^[7]^[8] The company provides support, victuals and infrastructure to sustain fishing and associated activities from fishing stations in St Brandon^[9] and through offices in Port Louis.

Fishing operations are artisanal, being carried out by about forty fishermen in teams of two using hand lines in fibre glass pirogues. Nets are illegal in St Brandon.^[10]

The company's primary ships in 2022 were MV Albatross and MV Fregate which were specially designed and commissioned in 2017 to transport fish, supplies and personnel between fishing stations in St. Brandon and Port Louis (a distance of approximately 469 km), where the fish is sold immediately upon arrival.^[11]^[12]

History and permanent grant

Logo of the Dutch East India Company

The company is named for a Captain Raphaël,^[13]^[14] who owned the lease to Île Raphaël and had installations on the corner of rue des Pamplemousses and rue Fanfaron in Port Louis. Captain Raphaël travelled regularly to Île Raphael, St Brandon from Port Louis and, on 17 May 1816^[15] and November 1817,^[16] is on record as bringing back salted fish^[17]^[18] on a Lugger called 'Le Cheriby'.

In 1928, the Raphael Fishing Company Ltd., purchased the rights and interests of St Brandon Fish & Manure Co. Ltd., under the 11 October 1901 deed, after it had gone into liquidation, from Mr. Ulcoq who had bought them from the liquidator in 1925. The sale to M. Ulcoq and the subsequent sale to Raphael Fishing Co. Ltd., were duly approved by the state.

On 11 August 1995, court proceedings were started by The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd., against a Mr Talbot who purported to own six islands and the Iles Boisées. The proceedings were against M. Talbot with the State of Mauritius as a co-defendant.

On 30 May 2005, the legal proceedings by Raphael Fishing Company Ltd., appeared to have come to an unsuccessful end in Mauritian Courts which refused the Raphael Fishing Co. Ltd., leave to appeal to the UK Privy Council.

On 27 July 2006, the UK Privy Council (which has the power to do this under the Mauritian Constitution) intervened to grant the Raphael Fishing Company Ltd., leave to appeal.

On 30 July 2008, in keeping with the Constitution of Mauritius,^[19] the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council rendered its verdict^[20] as follows: "For the reasons given in the above judgment the Board will allow this appeal, set aside the orders made in the courts below and declare that [the Raphael Fishing Co. Ltd.,] is the holder of a Permanent Grant of the islands mentioned in the 1901 Deed (...) subject to the conditions therein referred to".^[21]^[22] This effectively transferred ownership of the thirteen islands to the company.

These conditions were:^[23]

The Company must export all the guano it finds and pay the Government a royalty of 5 rupees per ton of Guano exported.
The company, in addition, must pay the Government an annual sum of one rupee,
All the produce of the islands must be sent to Mauritius.

References

^ Privy Council (United Kingdom) (30 July 2008). "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v The State of Mauritius and Another (Mauritius)". Vlex. pp. Point 5. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v The State of Mauritius and Another (Mauritius)". vLex. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The State of Mauritius & Anor (Mauritius) [2008] UKPC 43 (30 July 2008)". www.saflii.org. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
^ dls (29 September 2021). "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v The State of Mauritius and Another: PC 30 Jul 2008". swarb.co.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v The State of Mauritius and Another (Mauritius)". vLex.
^ "Le bail permanent de Raphaël Fishing confirmé sur St.-Brandon". lexpress.mu (in French). 31 July 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
^ "St Brandon: 11 – 21 Nov 2019" (PDF). 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
^ "Saint Brandon". Retrieved 20 January 2023. but the Mauritian company Raphaël Fishing, which manages the fishing activities in the archipelago and owns two small lodges to the South and the North (...)
^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The State of Mauritius & Anor (Mauritius) [2008] UKPC 43 (30 July 2008) Privy Council Appeal No 54 of 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 7 January 2023. The St Brandon Archipelago lies about 250 miles north of the main island of Mauritius. It consists of five groups of islands or islets, 22 altogether, with an aggregate land area no greater than about half a square mile and prone to substantial submersion in severe weather. Their practical utility lies in the fishing around them on the very extensive shallow bank covering some 900 square miles around them:see the Surveyor General's Report to the Colonial Secretary dated 1st June 1863, para. 4<. Most of the islands were in use as fishing stations by the early 19th century, though these stations suffered disastrous inundations in 1812 and again 1818: see the Limuria Book Part 2 Chap. VII, p.188
^ "The Fisheries Act". Blue Economy. p. 34. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
^ "Ship ALBATROSS (Fishing) Registered in Mauritius - Vessel details, Current position and Voyage information - IMO 0, MMSI 645476000, Call Sign 3B2164". MarineTraffic.com. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
^ "Ship FREGATE (Fishing) Registered in Mauritius - Vessel details, Current position and Voyage information - IMO 0, MMSI 645475000, Call Sign 3B2163". MarineTraffic.com. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
^ Jean-Marie Chelin. "30 August 1817". Histoire Maritime de L'ile Maurice. p. 142. ISBN 9789994902316. (...) et Le Lougre, Le Cheriby, Capitaine Raphael pour St Brandon
^ Jean-Marie Chelin (21 October 1817). "25 October 1817". Histoire Maritime de l'Ile Maurice 1816 -1817 (in French). port louis: Imatech. p. 163. Le Lougre le Cheriby, Capitaine Raphael, parti de St Brandon avec une cargaison de poisson sale
^ Chelin, Jean Marie (2016). Histoire Maritime de L'Ile Maurice 1816 & 1817 Marine et Commerce (in French). Tamarin: Jean Marie Chelin (published 17 May 1817). p. 107. ISBN 9789994902316.
^ Chelin, Jean-Marie (2016). Histoire Maritime de l'Ile Maurice 1816 et 1917 (in French). Mauritius: Jean-Marie Chelin. p. 169. ISBN 9789994902316.
^ Chelin, Jean Marie (2016). "1817". Histoire Maritime de L'isle Maurice (1816 & 1817) Marine et Commerce (in French). Tamarin, Mauritius: Jean Marie Chelin. p. 174. ISBN 9789994902316. Poisson salé de St. Brandon à 6 piastres la livre le cent. S'adresser chez Mr. Raphael, rue des Pamplemousses au coin de celle du Fanfaron
^ "Rougaille poisson salé". eBox. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
^ "THE CONSTITUTION of the REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS" (PDF). Mauritius Parliament. May 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The State of Mauritius & Anor (Mauritius) [2008] UKPC 43 (30 July 2008)". www.bailii.org. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The State of Mauritius & Anor (Mauritius) [2008] UKPC 43 (30 July 2008)". www.saflii.org. Retrieved 20 January 2023. LORD SCOTT OF FOSCOTE : For the reasons given in the above judgment the Board will allow this appeal, set aside the orders made in the courts below and declare that the appellant is the holder of a permanent grant of the islands mentioned in the 1901 Deed (transcribed in Vol TB25 No 342) subject to the conditions therein referred to; order the removal from the Register maintained by the Conservator of Mortgages in Mauritius of all relevant entries concerning the Deed of Sale transcribed in Vol 3131 No 52; and grant a perpetual injunction restraining M. Talbot, his agents, servants or employees from interfering with the appellant's possession of the islands mentioned in the 1901 Deed.
^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The State of Mauritius & Anor (Mauritius) [2008] UKPC 43 (30 July 2008)". www.bailii.org. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
^ "Privy Council Appeal No 54 of 2006; JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL Delivered the 30th July 2008. Paragraph 37". www.bailii.org. Retrieved 6 April 2024.

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