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The DDG of Fisheries, Ms Greta Apelgren-Nakardien, admitted on South Africa's Carte Blanche programme this evening that she is just another ANC cadre deployment. She made two profound admissions which confirm that she is not only wholly unsuitable for this highly skilled position but her very employment as DDG may very well be unlawful and thus invalid.  Ms Apelgren-Nakardien admitted that she was essentially given the job! It does not appear that she was interviewed for the job or that she even submitted a CV. South African civil service employment regulations require that not only should employees at this level be professionally qualified (which the DDG is not) but that proper and fair employment processes be followed. In short, a Minister cannot simply give her friend a job. Ms  Apelgren-Nakardien 's profound admissions appear to confirm that her employment is unlawful. Ms  Apelgren-Nakardien 's second admission was that she lacks any fisheries management know...

The first-ever meeting between the Minister of Fisheries and members of the fishing industry, which was described as being long overdue (the Minister was appointed in June 2009) revealed and confirmed an awful lot. Perhaps most telling of the crises they face, the Minister publicly conceded that they would be happy to receive advice from persons outside of the department. It of course does not help your cause when your two most senior fisheries employees (the Deputy Director-General of Fisheries and the (Acting) Chief Director of Fisheries) know absolutely nothing about fisheries administration, management or compliance.  So what did the Minister have to say? On the small scale fishing policy , she insists that an implementation plan for the fishery will be in place by the end of the 2013. Err, but she told us when this fatally flawed policy was adopted by Cabinet in mid 2012, that the implementation plan would be ready by the end of 2012. However, we have always said that ...

This week will be remembered for two historic events, err, make that three. The third being the fact that the Minister of Fisheries met with representatives of the fishing industry for the first time since assuming the position back in June 2009.  We however digress. The week started with the announcement that South Africa, Namibia and Angola agreed to formally and finally establish the Benguela Current Commission . This was a crucial step in the formalisation of institutional measures aimed at the harmonised and sustainable management of the Benguela Current marine ecosystem and the region's shared fish stocks.  The second historic event is the hosting of the first ever meeting of Commissioners in Cape Town of the newly established Global Oceans Commission, which is co-chaired by South Africa's Trevor Manuel, former Costa Rican president, President José María Figueres and former UK foreign secretary David Miliband, MP.  Mr Manuel has penned a rather descript...

So the Minister of Fisheries has announced that after a mere 4 years in office, she will for the very first time be meeting with the fishing industry ... well not quite.  The Minister has announced that she will be meeting with CEO's of the fishing industry tomorrow and then brief the media. The Minister has invited the CEO's / MD's of South Africa's four largest fishing companies to a meeting at the Mandela Rhodes Hotel in Cape Town. We understand that Foodcorp's Managing Director has not been invited to the meeting. We understand that Premier Fishing's CEO has also been invited.  While this meeting is undoubtedly important and 4 years overdue, we must nevertheless ponder why the Minister has elected to only meet with 4 companies out of more than 3000 quota holders and why has the Minister not elected to meet with the registered industrial and right holder representative bodies that are registered as such under section 8 of the Marine Living Resources ...

On 18 March 2013, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, will sign the Benguela Current Commission Treaty in Angola. The signature of the BCC Treaty will be the culmination of a two decade-long process of establishing a joint management commission for the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem Programme. In 2007, the Ministers responsible for fisheries and environmental affairs from Namibia, Angola and South Africa signed the Interim Agreement for the establishment of the Benguela Current Commission. In so doing, the Commission became the first of its kind on the African continent (prior to that the Guinea Current LME programme had established an interim commission). There are a total of 5 large marine ecosystem programmes around the African continent. South Africa is a party to two; the second being the Agulhas-Somali LME.  Feike has had a substantial professional relationship with the BCLME since 2004, having provided the Programme and Commission with a range ...

So it has been finally confirmed over the past few days that the Chief Director in the office of the DDG responsible for "fisheries operations support" (why this post is even needed is beyond comprehension), Sue Middleton, is suing the Minister of Fisheries (aka Tantrum Tina) for R1 million.  Ms Middleton's claim stems from the fact that during 2012 she was suspended by Tantrum Tina while serving as the umpteenth DDG and after having just authorised the urgent commencement of an industry-led demersal research survey which would involve Smit Amandla crew. Of course, as we know, Tantrum Tina simply hates Smit Amandla and she would have none of it. So, Tantrum Tina suspended the acting DDG.  After 6 months of being on paid suspension, Ms Middleton returned to her post as no charges were put to her but the Minister was reported in various media as stating that Middleton was found guilty of financial misconduct, which of course was not the case! Hence the defamation s...

Over the past financial year (ending 28 February 2013), the Feike Blog had received substantial support from the South African fishing industry and a number of foreign organisations. Our Blog had received substantial funding from a number of companies supportive of the oversight and monitoring work we undertake. In addition, the number of readers and BLOG visitors average a total of about 850 per day over the past year. Followers of our BLOG (outside South Africa) are predominantly from the USA, UK, Norway, Brazil, Russia, Namibia, Mozambique, France, Germany and Sweden.

Ms Greta Apelgren-Nakardien's press briefing last week provided a number of bizarre and wacky statements. Besides referring to Feike as a "mickey mouse" fishing specialist and she could not understand why journalists and others consider us specialists in the field, Ms Apelgren-Nakardien made the following rather odd statement about fishing levies: "We cannot possibly use levies for everything, but you will see – I think it is only 18 percent – that contributes to our entire budget.” The existence of the Marine Living Resources Fund (MLRF) established under section 10 of the Marine Living Resources Act (having previously existed as the Sea Fisheries Fund) was justified to Treasury at the time on the basis that the South African fishing industry ought to pay (at least substantially) for the costs associated with the management and administration of fisheries. The application of the internationally renowned "user-pays" or "cost-recovery" princip...

The Deputy Director-General of Fisheries (the DDG), Ms Apelgren-Nakardien, was full of bluster during her press briefing last week - which Feike was refused access to. Although the press invitation states that "all media" were invited, once Feike confirmed its attendance, we were told that only "accredited" journalists and media could attend. They refused to explain who accredited the media and journalists who would be permitted entry. This Mugabeisque strategy was clearly an indication of cowardice as many "unaccredited" journalists and members of the media were allowed to attend.  The DDG blamed Feike and the opposition for the department's various woes as published on our BLOG and in the various media over the past few months. She insisted that despite her lack of fisheries management skills and experience, she is more than capable to lead a specialist government department like the Fisheries Branch. The DDG for example stated that she has led ...