The Seychelles government is planning to hire lawyers and judges from Tanzania to help the country fight piracy, a top judicial officer in that country has said.

Seychelles is one of the countries facing numerous incidents related to piracy that has affected the country's fishing and tourism sectors.

The country said such crime has caused its gross domestic product (GDP) to drop almost by four percent.

Fredrick Egonda Ntende, the Seychelles Supreme court chief justice said he was holding talks with Tanzania to be helped with the human resources that will assist in improving its criminal justice system.

The island has an estimated population of 84,000 people, the smallest in Africa.

"Being a small country, we are facing a serious shortage of some important professions especially in judicial. I am currently having a discussion with our counterpart-Tanzania if we can be assisted by availing judges," said Mr Ntende.

It was not immediately confirmed if Tanzania will agree to the proposal because it was itself experiencing a huge shortage of Judges, magistrates and other legal personnel.

The Seychelles official was speaking in an interview at a three-day workshop on a regional counter-terrorism and international crime that was concluded on Thursday in Dar es Salaam.

During the southeast monsoon season (May to September) piracy activity around the Seychelles becomes significantly reduced.

However, Piracy is a significant threat in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, especially for shipping which does not take appropriate precautions or follow agreed shipping industry best practice guidelines.

"We are still not any safe. It has hurt our tourism and fishing sectors significantly," said the chief justice adding that for instance, fish -the country's main staple- was now sold at higher price than few years back.

In October 2009, two British nationals were taken hostage while sailing in the Indian Ocean. They were approximately 60 nautical miles from the Seychelles' main island of Mahé.

Attended by judges, legal and security experts, the workshop was organised by the Judiciary of Tanzania and the institute of security studies (ISS) that have offices in Ethiopia, South Africa and Kenya.

Among other things, the meeting also discussed the role of criminal justice systems in response to terrorism, piracy and money laundering in Eastern and Southern Africa.