Outer Islands (Seychelles): History
Until 2008, the islands were outside the administrative and electoral Districts of Seychelles.
In 2008 the shrimp farm closed on Coëtivy Island which caused a wave of job-seekers coming to Mahé.
The ministry of tourism was granted a free hand on these islands in order to address the unrest of the population, and declared it a district.
It formed the Islands Development Company (IDC) to control the islands, and prepared a program called 1 hotel 1 island. Each island in the group should be leased to a hotel, which will in turn built several residential homes and facilities on those islands. It required removal of the Protected Area Status from the islands. At first finding hotel chains was difficult, so Coëtivy received a prison, and thus creating jobs for the people who came back to their island.
Other islands received questionable facilities as well, e.g. Marie Louise Island a jail, Assumption Island an Army base, but on other islands had developments of resorts. The population increased again, for the first time in a century, from 500 in 2008 to 700 in 2016.
Conservation in the outer islands is managed by Island Conservation Society.
The Save Our Seas Foundation manages the nature preserve of D'Arros Island and its neighboring atolls.