Summary/History
The Republic of Mauritius is in the tropical south-west Indian Ocean, and is composed of a main island (Mauritius), together with Rodrigues island the Cargados Carajos Shoals (St Brandon) and Agalega atoll. Mauritius and Rodrigues each have 10

National priorities
o Develop conservation policies for protection of the high seas beyond the EEZ
o Better cooperation with other West Indian Ocean countries on biosecurity to tackle the threat of invasive species
o Develop, alongside neighbouring countries, a set of guidelines for the environmental impact assessment for oil and gas exploration and other developments in the coastal and marine environment
o Better enforce laws and develop procedures to deal with oil pollution from shipping
o Move towards muti-species management and place a stronger focus on ecosystem based approaches to fishing management as well as strengthening the Compliance, Monitoring and Surveillance systems
o Develop research into the economic value of marine ecosystem services in the West Indian Ocean.
o In the future Round Island could be used as a rat-free haven to establish populations of critically endangered birds .

Government's support/relevant policy
In Mauritius all offshore islets, the mainland islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues and the area on the mainland 1km inland from the HWM outwards are defined as coastal zones. Mauritius is a signatory of the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement which focusses on migratory waterbirds and aims to address all the threats they face on their migration through a Please see policy tab for list of agreements that this country is party to.

References
o Feare, C.J. 1984. Seabird status and conservation in the tropical Indian Ocean. Chap. 26, p. 457-471. In: Croxall, J.P., Evans, P.G.H. and Schreiber, R.W. (eds.) Status and Conservation of the World's Seabirds. ICBP Technical Publication No. 2.
o Fishpool, L.D.C. & Evans, M.I. (eds). 2001. Important Bird Areas in Africa and related islands: priority sites for conservation. Pisces Publications and Birdlife International (Birdlife Conservation Series 11). Newbury and Cambridge. 1144pp http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/userfiles/file/IBAs/AfricaCntryPDFs/Mauritius.pdf