South Africa

For the most part, however, the long term rights have brought some certainty to the many right holders in the 19 fisheries that make up the South African fishing industry, enabling them to now focus on business advancement and sustainability.

However, a battle over scarce marine resources is still being waged on two fronts - against poachers, and in the Cape High Court where the rights of artisanal fishers was recently the focus of an action by commercial fishermen in the West Coast Rock Lobster fishery.

Small-scale fishers vs big business

Small-scale fishermen who did not receive long term fishing rights believe they have been unfairly excluded from earning a living.

Last year, represented by Masifundise Development Trust, a non-governmental organisation working with small-scale and traditional fishing and coastal communities on the west and south coasts of the Western Cape, they took Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, to court for unfair discrimination and inequitable access to marine resources for livelihoods purposes.

The court case was to be heard in the Equality Court, sitting at High Court level during May 2007 but at the eleventh hour an out-of-court settlement was reached pending the development of a legislative and policy framework that accommodated traditional fishers.

The agreement provided six months basic interim relief fishing opportunities for about 1000 bona fide artisanal fishers who did not receive long term rights. Under the agreement the fishers could take and sell four West Coast Rock Lobsters a day during the lobster season, and combinations of other species of line fish.

At the end of the six months, with no formalised Small-scale Fisheries Policy in sight, the West Coast Rock Lobster Association, SA Sea Products Ltd and three other commercial right holders decided it was time to take a stand against a possible extension to the interim relief package.

In August 2008 they appeared in court, their argument being that in granting this right the minister had issued a type of permit that was not recognised, he had acted contrary to the wishes of scientists that the total allowable catch (TAC) be limited to a sustainable quantity each year; and that the right given to artisanal fishers would exceed this, putting a strain on a finite resource, with implications for the industry. The applicants also questioned the ambit of the powers of the minister under the Marine Living Resources Act to grant these fishers commercial rights and whether it was permissible for him to allow individuals who do not hold such rights to catch and sell rock lobster.

The respondents were the minister, Marine and Coastal Management (MCM), and artisanal fishers from the west coast-based Langebaan community. The latter had previously won an interim order in the Equality Court compelling the minister to protect the livelihoods of artisanal fishers who did not fall in the commercial, recreational or subsistence categories, but needed to sell small catches to make a living.

The minister and MCM said the application was pointless as the period for catching rock lobster had ended while the 2200 fishermen opposing the application said the real basis of this interdict was because the West Coast Rock Lobster Association wants to control the industry. In addition, several fishing organisations picketed outside Parliament calling for the dismissal of the Minister because they said, he “gave fishing rights to the inner circle of (former president) Thabo Mbeki who fished corruptly.”

As World Fishing went to print, the news broke that the Cape High Court had ruled against the lobster industry's application to stop Minister van Schalkwyk from issuing lobster catching rights to about 1000 traditional fishers. The judge also confirmed that the Minister could not ignore the order of the Equality Court to issues “interim relief” exemptions to 1000 eligible fishers and to develop a new policy framework for the small-scale fishing sector. The court ruling was welcomed by traditional fisher organisations that supported the Minister actions.

Abalone fishery closes

Another unpopular decision was the closure of the abalone fishery which had become endangered due to poaching and ecological changes (i.e. the migration of West Coast Rock Lobster into the feeding grounds of the abalone).

The Minister's decision to ban the harvesting of wild abalone from 1 November 2007 came as a shock to the 302 right holders even though they had known for some time that this was likely given the state of the resource. Over the past 10 years the TAC had been reduced annually from 615t in 1995 to 125t for the 2006/7 season. Draft regulations to prohibit diving in certain areas to further protect the resource were gazetted and the government announced it was allocating R400 million to improve the livelihoods of fishers in coastal fishing communities. Of this money, R100 million was earmarked for six new marine aquaculture projects.

Labour and NGOs were outraged as they viewed this move as an attempt to solve the rampant poaching problem instead of focussing on compliance. With threats of a court interdict they managed to persuade the Minister to keep the fishery open until 1 February to enable right holders to have a source of income over the festive season. The TAC was reduced to 75t apportioned proportionately amongst right holders.

The South African Abalone Industry Association did however dispute the matter in court, applying to have the ban overturned because it said the decision was not based on scientific research; the Abalone Scientific Working Group which is tasked with calculating the TAC for 2007/8 had not recommended closure of the fishery; and that policing the resource was non-existent.

The Minister's decision was upheld and the application was later dismissed.

Hake court date

Hake Deep Sea Trawl (HDST) rights were also finalised following a court case in which the decision of the Minister concerning the hake deep sea trawl allocations, was upheld. Although the allocation of HDST rights were appealed more than two years ago by a total of 58 parties, only six applicants challenged the right allocations, one of which withdrew its case prior to the start of the proceedings.

Of the remaining five companies four were unsuccessful and their applications were dismissed with costs. The fifth company, Ziabuya Fishing (Eastern Cape) (Pty) Ltd, was successful in having the Minister's decision set aside and its investments and employee ratio reassessed. The allocation will be reassessed based on these new figures and increased accordingly which amount will be taken from the other long term right holders. This order is to take effect from 1 January 2009.

South African Hake trawl was certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in 2004 and is by far the most valuable fish resource in South Africa. The main export markets are frozen fish to Spain; frozen fillets to Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Australia and the USA, and fresh chilled hake to Germany, Spain and France. MSC recently opened an office in Cape Town, from where it will be implementing its fishery certification and seafood eco-labelling programme for wild capture fisheries in the Southern African Development Community.

Interesting times for Eastern Cape fishery

The South African squid fishery is effort based and represents the largest fishery in the Eastern Cape generating about R560 million in an average year. Developments in this fishery took an interesting turn in December 2007 in the form of pressure to manage fishery resources using an ecosystem approach, and to extend the closed season by a further six weeks in order to reduce the effort on the resource. The industry accused scientists of arbitrary decision making and said they had neglected the fishery to the point where after 20 years they still did not have an Operating Management Plan (OMP). For the 2007/8 season MCM has approved 2479 permits (crew) catching squid from about 120 vessels. This year the focus has been on stabilising the workforce and has involved the Statutory Council for the Squid and Related Fisheries addressing the shortfalls in the Merchant Shipping Act Chapter 4 dealing with conditions of employment.

Small pelagics fishery

South Africa's pelagic fishing fleet has taken bumper catches of pilchard and anchovy for four consecutive years but scientists returning from the annual mid-year pilchard stock survey say that recruitment has failed for the fifth consecutive year and this will have negative consequences for the industry.

Scientists believe this is because larvae is not reaching the nursery grounds off the west coast and the reason for this is because the pilchard distribution has shifted from the west coast to the south east coast where it is likely there is more predation of eggs and larvae in the warmer waters.

South Africa's TAC for pilchard increased by 58% to 450,000t in 2004, whilst the anchovy TAC increased by a phenomenal 65% to 300,000t. The current low-catch level of pilchards is offset by better anchovy recruitment and good catches and high fishmeal prices. This has enabled the small pelagic fishery in South Africa to weather the effect of reduced pilchard landings.

The new Afro Fishing cannery at Mossel Bay harbour on the south east coast of South Africa provides an alternative to west coast-based right holders by offering them an infrastructure to offload their catches plus the convenience of a cannery, ice plant and trucking facilities.

Afro Fishing is a consortium of five companies which recognised that an opportunity was being lost when in excess of 100,000t of pilchards was being transported out of Mossel Bay by truck to processing facilities on the west coast. The cannery is capable of producing about 20,000t annually during the eight month catch season, the product being supplied under existing well-known brands.

The South African market demand for pilchards is some six million cartons per annum and moderate growth is expected driven by an increasing population and the relatively high price of red meat and chicken as alternative protein sources. An estimated 89% of the South African population consumes pilchards with the product outselling tuna.

Environment takes priority

South Africa's commitment to the ecosystem approach in the management of its fisheries was enhanced late last year when a Policy on the Management of Seals, Seabirds and Shorebirds was gazetted aimed at supporting the conservation of seabirds. Additionally, strict permit conditions were instituted to reduce the catch of seabirds in fisheries, including the take of albatrosses and petrels.

Environmentalists have for the past year been courting longliners operating in the Large Pelagics fishery with a view to reducing the high fatality of seabirds.

New research has been documented in a report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in August. The report underlines the need for international cooperation on preventing seabird deaths and also reinforces the need for fishermen to implement the mandatory and readily available measures that help prevent birds from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

Dr Samantha Petersen, manager of the WWF Responsible Fisheries Programme, said the report “substantially improves our understanding of the circumstances under which seabirds are killed and for the first time reports on experiments conducted in South African waters to develop techniques to reduce seabird bycatch under local conditions."

She says the findings also help accurately identify management measures to help reduce the wasteful killing of these magnificent birds while not unnecessarily disrupting fishing activities or impacting other vulnerable marine life like turtles and sharks.

This report was endorsed by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and a national plan of action was launched for reducing the incidental catch of seabirds in longline fisheries, at the official opening of the international meeting of the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) working parties which met in Hermanus recently. The 12 countries, signatory to this convention, observers and NGOs, including WWF, have begun discussions on how nations can collaborate on the international problem.

The report, "Understanding and mitigating vulnerable bycatch in southern African trawl and longline fisheries", is available on www.wwf.co.za

Conclusion

The South African fishery is settling and this is reflected in the Marine Living Resources Fund (MLRF) which has shown a turnaround two years ahead of schedule.

This year, the MLRF Annual Report for 2007/8 tabled in Parliament at the end of August, received an unqualified audit report. It shows a turnaround in the management and administration of the MLRF which finances the operations - including research, resource and coastal management and monitoring, control and surveillance - of the Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT).

This is the culmination of work that was started in August 2006 in response to a number of concerns raised about the MLRF, including cash flow problems, a lack of skills and capacity and inadequate financial systems.

The MLRF now has a positive accumulated surplus of more than R29 million, compared to a deficit of more than R65 million in the 2005/06 financial year. This means that MCM is now better able to fulfil its mandate and is in full compliance with the statutory reporting requirements of the MLRF. The improved financial position means, amongst others, that there are now more sea days available for compliance vessels and research. This growth allows the MLRF to now build on and leverage off its strengthened balance sheet.