12/04/2005: The Department
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has published
for public comment a draft policy on the allocation
and management of long term commercial fishing
rights in the traditional line fishery, on
Monday 11 April 2005 .
The draft policy sets out as the over-all
objectives of allocating long term fishing
rights in the line fishery to
Increase the participation levels of black
traditional line fishers;
Allocate rights to traditional line fishers
reliant on traditional line fishing for their
income;
Affirm fishing communities and coastal regions
who depend on traditional line fishing;
Ensure fair labour practices are adhered to;
Carefully manage the effort to which line
fish stocks are currently subjected to ensure
that over-exploited and collapsed fish stocks
recover;
Lay the foundations for the management of
this fishery on a regional basis; and
Ensure substantially higher levels of compliance
by fishers.
Members of the public are entitled to submit
written comment on the draft policy until
20 May 2005 . The Department will also embark
upon a public consultation process commencing
in Port Nolloth on 18 April 2005 and concluding
in Durban in late April.
Written comment must be submitted as follows:
By Fax: (021) 670-1782
Attention: The Deputy Director-General
Traditional Line Fish Policy Comments
By Mail
Attention: Deputy Director-General
The Department of Environmental Affairs and
Tourism
PO Box 44963 , Claremont , 7735
Traditional Line Fish Policy Comments
It is important to note that the General
Fisheries Policy issued for public comment
in March 2005 will apply to this policy.
The policy is available in English, Afrikaans,
isiXhosa and isiZulu on www.deat.gov.za .
Issued by the Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism Chief Directorate: Communications
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Additional Notes
Background to the Traditional Line Fishery
The South African line fishery is a multi-user,
multi-species fishery consisting of approximately
200 species of which 95 contribute significantly
to commercial and recreational catches. The
user groups may be broadly divided into recreational,
commercial and subsistence components. The
recreational component consists of approximately
450 000 users and may be divided into estuarine
anglers, who fish from boats or river banks,
rock and surf anglers and a recreational skiboat
sector which operates in a similar environment
to the commercial component. The subsistence
sector is a new component, having first been
recognised by the Marine Living Resources
Act of 1998.The subsistence sector exists
along the east coast from the Eastern Cape
to Northern KwaZulu–Natal and comprises shore-based
and estuarine fishing activity. Due to high
operating costs, the boat-based fishery does
not include a subsistence sector. The traditional
line fish policy issued today concerns the
commercial fishery only. A separate policy
concerning the subsistence line fishery along
will be issued during the latter half of 2005.The
traditional line fish policy issued today
concerns the commercial fishery only. A separate
policy concerning the subsistence line fishery
along will be issued during the latter half
of 2005.The traditional line fish policy issued
today concerns the commercial fishery only.
A separate policy concerning the subsistence
line fishery along will be issued during the
latter half of 2005.
The commercial traditional line fishery is
a boat-based activity and currently consists
of 3450 crew operating from about 450 commercial
vessels. Owing to the large number of users,
launch sites, species targeted and the operational
range, the line fishery is presently managed
in terms of a total applied effort (“TAE”),
bag limits for species, closed areas, limitations
of the gear used and restraints on the trade
of collapsed and over-exploited species.
Geographically, line fishing takes place
from Port Nolloth on the west coast to Richards
Bay on the east coast. The fishery is not
capital intensive and exceptionally traditional
in nature with fisher families having participated,
in many instances, for generations and centuries.
The fishery is, however, characterised by
high levels of insecure labour relations,
including ad hoc employment.
How does the Department intend to give effect
to the policy Objectives?
The policy objectives are to be met by introducing
a range of novel and innovative management
tools to this fishery.
A Register of Line Fish Crew is to be established
.
To empower line fish crew, the Department
will require all traditional line fish crew
to register on a “line fish crew list”. All
right holders requiring crew for their vessels
will be obliged to crew their vessels from
persons registered on the crew list. The Department
will only register persons on the crew list
if they have successfully undertaken a SAMSA
safety training course, establish a reliance
on line fishing and are able to demonstrate
some form of historical involvement in line
fishing.
Management on a Regional Basis.
The Department intends to manage this fishery
on a regional basis, restricting the movement
of vessels from one region to the next. Applicants
in this fishery will have to nominate certain
licensed landing sites or harbours from which
they will operate within a nominated region.
Should an applicant be successful in its application,
the right holder will then be restricted to
operating from that region. In addition, the
Department will prohibit the harvesting of
line fish stocks that are either over-exploited
or collapsed in particular regions.
The Department will allocate traditional
line fish rights in the following four regions:
Port Nolloth to Cape Point
False Bay to Breede River
Breede River to Port St Johns
KwaZulu-Natal
Traditional line fishers domiciled in KwaZulu-Natal
may only operate in waters adjacent to Kwa-Zulu
Natal and may launch from any licensed landing
site or beach along the KwaZulu-Natal coast.
Multi-Fishery Access.
To complement the introduction of regional
management to this fishery, right holders
will be allowed to access species other than
line fish depending on their geographic location:
Right holders domiciled between Port Nolloth
and Gansbaai may hold west coast rock lobster
fishing rights (near shore only), provided
that the person does not hold an abalone right
as well;
Right holders domiciled between the Breede
River and Port St Johns may hold hake handline
fishing rights; and
Right holders in KwaZulu-Natal may hold net
fishing rights (such as shove nets etc), including
beach seine rights.
Provisional lists
Before the Department makes a final decision
on who will be allocated rights to participate
in the traditional line fishery, it will issue
a provisional list of successful applicants.
The provisional lists will be circulated in
each fishing region. Interested and affected
parties in these areas may then inform the
Department if any persons on the list are
not traditional line fishers.
Duration of Rights
Having regard to the biological status of
line fish stocks, the need to encourage higher
levels of compliance and adherence to fisheries
laws and the need to affirm line fishers from
traditional line fish villages along our entire
coast, rights will be allocated for a period
of 8 years (01 January 2006 to 31 December
2013). Every right holder will be subjected
to regular performance measuring as is explained
in the draft Policy.
What about New Entrants
The traditional line fishery is oversubscribed.
The Department estimates that the ratio of
oversubscription (fishers:TAE) may be as high
as 2:1. In addition, this fishery remains
in a state of environmental emergency. Finally,
the TAE set by the Minister remains at 3450
crew and 450 vessels. Accordingly, the Department
will not allocate additional fishing rights
(including exemptions) in this fishery. The
Department will however, replace current right
holders and exemption holders who do not rely
on line fishing for their income, have not
fished in accordance with their permit conditions
or who have failed to transform their businesses
as undertaken in their applications for rights
or exemptions,as the case may be. The Department
will look to replace these fishers with traditional
line fishers who were unsuccessful in applying
for a medium term right in 2003 or line fish
exemption in 2003/2004.
What is the intended Application Fee for
this Fishery?
The Department has proposed a two part application
fee for this fishery as follows. An upfront
application fee, applicable to all applicants
for a traditional line fish right, of R400
(four hundred rand) is proposed. Thereafter,
should an applicant be successful in applying
for a line fish right, the right holder will
have to pay a further R204 (two hundred and
four rand) per crew member. This would typically
amount to R2000 for a ten person boat or R1000
for a five person boat. The fee in 2001 was
R6000.
What about access to Snoek ?
The Department will continue to permit traditional
line fishers access to snoek . The Department
had previously stated that a separate snoek
fishery is not viable as snoek is a highly
nomadic species, as is presently evident.
