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On 15 January 2013, we reported that the Green Party's Judith Sole served a second set of papers on the Minister of Fisheries, her DDG and a number of "interested parties" (none being right holders in the lobster sector) seeking to either -  halt all lobster fishing in South African waters until lobster stocks recover to "sustainable levels";  alternatively, to stop the commercial trap fishery from fishing but to allow the nearshore and interim relief sectors to continue operating. As we had reported on 15 January, our opinion is that the application is not only entirely ill-conceived on a substantive basis but it is fatally flawed on a procedural basis as Ms Sole failed once again (as she had done in her initial application in December 2012) to serve the application on each of the more than 2000 commercial right holders and interim relief operators as she is required to do.  That said, the respondents (ie the Minister and her DDG) were required t...

The Green Party led by Judith Sole served a second set of papers on the Minister of Fisheries and various "interested parties" this afternoon. Ms Sole seeks to review and set aside the decision by the Minister of Fisheries and/or Acting DDG of the Fisheries Branch to continue to permit fishing for lobsters during the current 2012/2013 fishing season.  Ms Sole is seeking an interdict to halt all fishing for lobsters until the resource recovers from its present levels of being 97% overfished to a level of sustainability estimated to be when the lobster biomass is at 20% of pristine or "pre-fishing" levels.  Ms Sole is alternatively seeking an interdict against the offshore commercial fishing industry in a bid to halt the commercial trap fishery while allowing the near shore commercial and the interim relief sectors to continue fishing.  Ms Sole's application is not only fraught with factual inaccuracies and inconsistent conclusions, her application is...

Feike has been provided with an update on the status of the Africana research vessel and research cruises she was and is supposed to undertake.  As we had last reported, the Africana failed to complete the critical end of season sardine and anchovy research cruise after the Navy successfully pumped sea water into the ship's fuel tanks. Despite promises (actually a series of lies) to the portfolio committee about the ship being ready to sail within days of the "challenge" (ie. government word for mega stuff-up of unimaginable proportions for which they do not have the slightest solution) of pumping sea water into the fuel tanks, the vessel failed to sail.  By late November 2012, the SA pelagic industry had had enough of the joint DAFF and Naval incompetence and got a private vessel ready to conduct the research cruise which was eventually successfully completed.  Subsequently, a one-day calibration exercise between the industry vessel and the Africana was plan...