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More than 7 months since President Zuma signed the proclamation appointing the Minister of Fisheries in charge of marine and coastal management, the branch continues to be - as one ANC member of Parliament put it - led by actors! The head of the organisation is an acting deputy-director general (the third actor since January). Neither does MCM have a chief director of the critical post of fisheries management nor a chief financial officer. Their are dozens of director posts in research and fisheries management that continue to remain vacant. The lack of professional fisheries managers, fisheries economists and fisheries researchers is having an obviously profound adverse impact on fisheries management. Firstly, we still have no idea what the Minister's intentions are with regard the management of our commercial fisheries, the restructuring of marine and coastal management and the expansion of marine and freshwater fish farming except for some very vague and ambiguous statements in...

The second Ministerial Conference of the Benguela Current Commission (BCC) is scheduled to take place in Cape Town on 2 September 2010. While the Minister's of Fisheries from Namibia and Angola will attend as representatives of their respective countries, it is unclear who will represent South Africa. It could either be the Minister of Fisheries or the Minister of Environmental Affairs. The first Ministerial Conference took place two years ago and addressed a number of critical institutional arrangements affecting the management and administration of the BCC. The second Ministerial Conference will no doubt have to address the fundamental issue of adopting a final agreement establishing the BCC as the current BCC was established in terms of an interim agreement. A final agreement is required in order to secure long term and sustainable funding for the various regional marine ecosystem projects and for administration and operational costs. The second Ministerial Conference will also...

On 18 August 2010, the Department of Environmental Affairs issued a letter to appellants and stakeholders in the boat-based whale watching (BBWW) and white shark cage diving (WSCD) sectors confirming that a "large number of appeals" have been received and the department is unable to provide any indication as to how long the appeals process will take. This is hardly surprising. Firstly, in terms of an appeals process the Minister and her department do not have any legal framework in which to consider, evaluate and decide the appeals. If we recall, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and her department do not have the legal authority in the first place to actually evaluate applications in these sectors (but they insisted on doing so). In defending their perceived authority, the DEA conceded that it does not have any authority to act under GN Regulation 1111 of September 1998 (the fisheries regulations). Regulation 5 of the fisheries regulations stipulates the procedures to b...

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) reported that it had successfully issued detention orders on two cargo ships that were headed to Hong Kong. One of the ships was found with cargo of 1.6 tons of abalone on board which is assumed to have been harvested illegally. The second ship's arrival in Cape Town is expected in the next week. The action by SARS is to be highly commended as it indicates the use of intelligence and information networks which are essential to reducing the scourge of poaching. The costs that will be incurred by the poaching syndicate will be substantial if one considers the lost costs of freighting, processing and up-front payments to runners and poachers. However, the individual or entity that exported the product must be publicly named and prosecuted. Further, the damages suffered by the shipping companies concerned and its clients who would also have been shipping products to Hong Kong should also be claimed from the exporter of the illegal abalone. Of s...

The Marine Ecosystems and Management newsletter (Aug 2010) reported that in July, US President Obama, signed an executive order establishing a national ocean policy for the US which is the country’s first comprehensive, integrated policy for stewardship of its oceans and coasts. The policy launches a process of coastal and marine spatial planning for the nation, and coordinates the various ocean-related activities of more than 20 federal agencies under a new and centralized National Ocean Council. The President’s action reflects the recommendations of a federal task force that explored ways to promote long-term conservation and use of ocean resources. It is therefore noteworthy that in South Africa we have been doing the very opposite and will be (mis) managing our marine and coastal resources in a disintegrated and ad hoc fashion and contrary to all professional and scientific advice provided to government! South Africa's ill-advised mismanagement strategy of our oceans and coast...

Many abalone quota holders east of Cape Hangklip have caught their entire annual quota in a single morning usually between about 8am and 11am. One processor in the area confirmed that of the quotas it has arrangements with for processing about 50% or 20 tons have been harvested over a period of about 9 fishing days. Although clearly happy with their legal quotas, many quota holders have expressed concerns that the department of fisheries has yet to develop a compliance and management strategy for the fishery more than 30 days into the harvesting season. For example, fishery compliance officers are still unsure how to deal with quota holders that land slightly more than their allocated quotas as quota holders cannot carry a scale on their vessels. Quota holders have prudently suggested that the normal tolerances should be allowed for (about 10% of the legal catch limit), alternatively, that over-catches be allocated to fellow quota holders and deducted from their permits. Further, catch...

A South African processor is seeking to purchase approximately 500 tons of pilchards on an urgent basis. If you have 500 tons of quota available please contact Feike.

Former environmental portfolio committee chair Langa Zita is set to become the next director general of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. According to well-placed sources in the department, Zita's name has been forwarded as first choice to Public Services Minister Richard Baloyi and Cabinet for approval. Zita has a strong background in the South African Communist Party, is said to be a close ally of Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi and has been one of Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson's closest advisers in the past few months. Zita was not initially in the running for the position, after Njabulo Nduli left the department last year. But by the time a second round of interviews took place, he was closely involved in departmental decision-making and had emerged as favourite. Not everyone is happy with Zita's looming appointment. Factions in the department who oppose him are worried about his management skills. Other department officials s...

What is this commercial fishing industry performance review process supposed to be about? Unfortunately the department of fisheries (DAFF) does not seem to understand its purpose, intent and what DAFF's legal limitations are in this regard. DAFF's institutional confusion on the matter cannot be surprising. Afterall, there is no longer any institutional memory left within DAFF that understands why the "performance review" clauses were included in each of the policies (and of course we will not expect anyone at DAFF to consult the Cabinet minutes of June 2004 to determine why that meeting which was chaired by then Deputy President Zuma agreed to adopt the current suite of fisheries policies). In addition, DAFF does not have a permanent senior management team to speak of (save for the much maligned scientific researchers) that are conversant with fisheries management. Yes, they all mean well, but professional fisheries managers they are not and that is what DAFF needs; n...

The Brazilian environmental group Instituto Justiça Ambiental (IJA) this week released a report alleging that illegal commercial shark fishing is causing severe damage to Brazil’s offshore ecosystems. According to IJA, 300,000 sharks have been killed in the past year for their fins, which are clandestinely exported to Asia where shark fin soup and other shark-based dishes are a popular delicacy. It is a crime in Brazil to separate a shark’s fin from its body. According to the group’s allegations, however, this has not stopped the Brazilian seafood company, Sigel do Brasil Comercio, from illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of shark fins to China and other Asian markets where a growing middle class has caused a surge in demand for the products. IJA’s claims have been substantiated by the Brazilian Environment Ministry, who has stepped up pressure on Sigel and even raided their offices in May. The killing of so many predators has severely imbalanced the ecosystem off Bra...

Members of the Korean Maritime Institute and the National Fisheries Research & Development Institute met with members of the South African fishing industry, academics and officials from the Department of Fisheries to discuss possible areas of investment and co-operation in the fields of commercial fisheries and aquaculture. The Koreans were clearly committed and serious about establishing a formal relationship albeit initially with private South African commercial interests. The Koreans arrived armed with membership forms for a "Korea-Africa Fisheries Forum" (KORAFF) which has already been established with a secretariat in place and located in Seoul. Both Korean and South African participants agreed that there are a number of important areas in which Korean experience and investment could be leveraged to grow South Africa's fisheries and aquaculture sectors. These include the following: 1. Maximising harvests of anchovy and product value by partnering with local ope...

Appeals against the "non-decisions" taken in the boat-based whale watching (BBWW) and white shark cage diving (WSCD) sectors are due in August 2010 - (BBWW appeals due on 2 August and WSCD appeals due on 10 August). Feike had represented a number of appellants in both sectors. The decision-making process reflected an obstacle course of factual and legal errors highlighted by inconsistent decision-making. Some of the most glaring errors are the following. 1. Despite denials by environmental affairs, applicants were compared against other applicants who applied for permits in other zonal areas. For example, applicants for a WSCD permit in Gansbaai were compared and scored against applicants from False Bay. The result was that scoring was skewed and simply incorrect in terms of the General Published Reasons which resulted in some applicants receiving "low" scores which resulted in them being denied a permit. 2. The delegated authority unilaterally decided to el...

The commercial wild abalone fishery finally opened on 1 July 2010. Since then, many right holders have been able to successfully apply for their fishing permits (and applicable exemptions) and start fishing. However, the abalone industry association has noted that a number of glitches remained but are being resolved. What is apparent (and importantly different from the past) is that there is now regular contact and communication between right holders, the association and the fisheries department. This positive start has laid the foundations for building a strong relationship between right holders and the fisheries department as they must now together commence important work on curbing poaching and developing a viable management policy for abalone. The next commercial fishing rights allocation is set to commence in early 2013 but preparations for this quota allocation process will have to commence very shortly.

The FAO has released a technical paper on the international management of tuna fisheries. The technical paper was prepared by Robin Allen. The following is an extract from the paper which is accessible at http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1453e/i1453e00.pdf. This paper reviews the current management of tuna fisheries by the five tuna regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), focusing on the management of target species in the light of international standards and modern expectations for fisheries management. The key international standards used flow from the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea via the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development to the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement. Subsequent to those instruments, other expectations of best practices have been gathered into the expectation that RFMOs undergo performance reviews. The paper discusses the status of the stocks o...