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The Fisheries Department (DAFF), led by its Deputy Director-General and the Chief Directors of Research, Fisheries Management and Compliance met with representatives of the SA Abalone industry today (1 December 2014) and confirmed that a decision has been taken to set the 2014-2015 abalone TAC at 96 tons.  The 96 ton allocation is substantially less than the 160 tons motivated for by the industry in a detailed motivation of more than 15 pages. However, the meeting was brief but extremely productive with the DDG, Mr Mortimer Mannya, making it plain that he and his management team intend managing fisheries such as abalone very differently to the past. Mr Mannya emphasised the need for increased collaboration, information sharing and partnerships to be built between industry and his management team. Mr Mannya was nonetheless frank and to the point about his obligations of having to determine the TAC by striking a balance between the scientific advice provided to him and the requi...

The Annual International Stock Assessment Review Workshop focussing on Hake and penguins commenced today at the University of Cape Town. The Annual Review Workshop will conclude on Friday 5 December. The Workshop is open to all interested persons.  Six leading international fisheries scientists arrived in Cape Town this past weekend to conduct an annual review of the analyses used to provide scientific advice for the management of South Africa’s major fisheries.  Starting on 1 December 2014, the review workshop, which is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the National Research Foundation, takes place at the University of Cape Town and concludes with a presentation by the six-member panel of their findings and recommendations at 15h30 on Friday, 5 December 2014. The scientists making up the review panel are:  • Alistair Dunn (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand); • Jason Link (National Mari...

The North Gauteng High Court on 24 November 2014 handed down one of the most important judgements in recent times concerning the determination of catch allowances. The application was brought by, inter alia , the Border Deep Sea Angling Association against the Fisheries Department (DAFF) and its Minister.  The Association sought to review and set aside a 23 November 2012 decision by the Minister to ban all harvesting of red steenbras by recreational fishers. The Association contended that the decision was, inter alia , irrational, taken arbitrarily and capriciously and one that no reasonable person in the position of a minister would take.  The court agreed with the Association, reviewed and set aside the red steenbras ban in so far as it concerns recreational fishers and awarded costs against DAFF and the Minister.  The full judgement is available from Feike on request. The judgement however provides a crucial precedent and standard for the determination of ...

For sixth year in succession, the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) failed to secure adequate protection for shark species. South Africa is a founding ICCAT member. In particular, the meeting failed to adopt a resolution requiring ICCAT's 49 member states to ensure that their fishing vessels land all sharks with fins attached in a bid to substantially halt the reprehensible practice of finning at sea. At present, ICCAT requires the weight of all fins on board vessels to account for 5% of the total shark trunk weight (a fin-to-shark weight ratio) when landed. This is of course a significant loophole which is regularly abused.  The defeated proposal, which was co-sponsored by South Africa, would have required that fins must be landed naturally attached to the shark. Japan and China effectively blocked the proposal to adopt the "fins-attached" resolution.  However, we believe that South Africa should ...

There is no doubt that the scourge of illegality afflicting our high value inshore fisheries such as lobster and abalone will completely decimate these mainstay fisheries in the not too distant future. There is broad agreement about this.  We must also accept that the Fisheries Department will never be able to realise their "recovery plans" given the dearth of skills, ability, resources and budgets available. That the system of long term fishing rights - meant to encourage legality and investment in fisheries - is fast collapsing with each approaching re-allocation process and being replaced with chaotic and valueless "exemptions", will only spur on illegality.  We are witnessing the intrusion of increasing levels of organised criminality into the lobster fishery. These forms of organised criminality are usually associated with the gang-run abalone poaching syndicates.  So how does the South African commercial lobster industry protect the jobs it sustai...

The Fisheries Department has confirmed that the lobster TAC for the 2014/2015 season has been cut by 17% as follows: Commercial Fishing (Offshore): 1120.25 tons (previously 1356.56 tons); Commercial Fishing (Nearshore): 376.10 tons (previously 451 tons); Subsistence (Interim Relief Measure) Fishing: 235.45 tons (previously 276 tons);  and Recreational Fishing: 69.20 tons (previously 83.5 tons) The department's press statement states that the "2014/15 season for recreational fishing of WCRL will open on Sunday, 15 November 2014, and will close on Monday, 6 April 2014." The season will actually start on Saturday 14 November. Sunday will of course be the 16th. As previously reported on this BLOG, the recreational fishery will be restricted to 21 fishing days spread between SATURDAY   15 November and the Easter Weekend as follows: November: 15 November 2014 to 16 November 2014 ( 2 days ) December:   16 December 2014 ( 1 day) December/January ...

Much has been written about the fact that the recreational lobster fishery has had its quota slashed by 17% to 69 tons or 21 days of fishing. There is little doubt that the economic impact of such a curtailment in the recreational fishery will be felt across the coastal Western Cape economy as recreational fishermen decide to not service their boats, purchase new wetsuits, gear and equipment, or confirm holidays in coastal villages from Paternoster to Arniston.  Of course the Fisheries Department has never undertaken any form of socio-economic research into the social and economic impacts of its decisions despite it being legally obligated to in terms of its theoretical adherence to a policy of "ecosystems approach to fisheries management".  I have estimated that the reckless introduction of the interim relief lobster sector over the past 8 seasons has cost the South African economy more than R600 million in direct TAC losses. That is a frightening number. The ecolog...

Feike receives dozens of reports from members of the public and abalone right holders who try and report incidences of abalone poaching but only end up being frustrated by the Department of Fisheries' refusal to stop the scourge of poaching. An abalone right holder recently narrated two such incidences in October this year alone, which epitomise the failure of the department and frustration of law-abiding abalone right holders who are literally having to watch their livelihood being stolen from them by blatant illegality and mind-boggling incompetence or corruption or both. One cannot but ask: Are DAFF officers part of the abalone poaching syndicates? 13 October 2014 I drove past Harderbaai in Onrus river. Spotted 9 divers in the water. Phoned DAFF in Hermanus, time 18h55 . They said  they knew about them . Followed up next morning, no arrests or confiscations were made. DAFF’s response was that they did go to the scene, but the people were all ready in the water, so they cou...

The Department of Fisheries has extended the fishing season to 31 October 2014 for Zone G1  right holders only. The granting of the season extension follows a written request by a Zone G right holder who requested an extension to the season until such time as quotas were harvested. The Department refused to allow an open-ended time frame noting that the 2014/2015 season is set to commence on 1 November 2014. The TAC for the upcoming season must still be determined. The abalone industry has motivated for a 160 ton catch allowance while the department has proposed a 43 ton TAC.

The Department of Fisheries is proposing another annual substantial reduction to the annual recreational lobster catch and effort limits. Just two seasons ago, the catch limit was 183 tons or 67 days of fishing spread over the period 15 November to 15 January and 6 April of the following year to 9 April. The current proposal confirms that the catch limit will be reduced to 69 tons or 21 days of fishing. The only aspect still up for discussion is the spread of the fishing days. The Department has proposed three possibilities: Option 1: 21 fishing days November: 6 fishing days (15 to 16 November / 22 to 23 November / 29 to 30 November) December: 4 fishing days (20 to 21 December / 27 to 28 December) January: 5 fishing days (1 January / 3 to 4 January / 17 to18 January) February: 2 fishing days (7 to 8 February) Easter weekend: 4 fishing days Option 2:   21 fishing days November: 4 fishing days (15 to 16 November / 29 to 30 November) December: 5 fishing days (16...

The South African abalone industry, representing some 300 small-scale commercial abalone divers, has unanimously rejected the department's proposed 43 ton annual catch limit for the upcoming 2014/2015 fishing season.  In a brief note addressed to the Deputy Director-General of Fisheries, Mr Mortimer Mannya, and copied to his boss, the Director-General of DAFF, Prof Edith Vries, the industry records their opposition to the proposed 43 ton TAC on the following bases: 1. Right holders had previously provided a comprehensive submission explaining why a 43 ton TAC would not make rational management sense. It appears as if this submission has not been read or understood according to the email.  2. The proposed reduction to the TAC "fails to comprehend" that the single greatest threat to the viability of abalone stocks is the illegal fishery and not the legal fishery.  3. The Department continues to not implement an anti-paoching initiative and accordingly the d...

The Fisheries Department finally issued exemptions to those oyster right holders who were not re-allocated their rights during the failed and unlawful 2013 fishing rights allocation process.  The issuing of exemptions - on (or about) 9 October 2014 - meant that for some 10 months oyster harvesters were forced into poverty or illegality as DAFF refused to allocate these harvesters their exemptions despite acknowledging that the FRAP 2013 was unlawful back in April 2014.  And the only reason these exemptions were issued is because one former right holder approached the Human Rights Commission for assistance. DAFF similarly only issued exemptions to abalone right holders after the Public Protector became involved. And relief for the line fishers came only after a court order and unprecedented public anger and outcry.  DAFF continues to ignore tuna and demersal shark harvesters who were not re-allocated their respective fishing rights in terms of FRAP 2013. The m...

The Fisheries Department issued an email to the representatives of abalone right holders on 1 October stating that it is considering allocating a 43 ton catch limit for the 2014/2015 abalone season which commences on 1 November 2014.  The most relevant part of the email issued by DAFF states that -  "The recommendation is based on the management objectives of preventing the abalone spawning biomass in each zone to drop below 20% of its pre-exploitation level and to ensure that it recovers to 40% of that level within 15 years (i.e. by the 2024/2025 season). The recommendation to achieve a 40% recovery goal is coupled with a targeted 15% reduction per annum in the current level of poaching for a period of 15 years.  The recommendation for the abalone TACs for zones A and B are as a result of notably declining trends in Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) over past four years and a decline in densities of abalone in zones C, D and F. The decrease in abalone TACs for zone ...

In response to my suggestion that we should consider a small-scale commercial limpet fishery, Professor George Branch has provided a concise but convincing riposte. Professor Branch advises against such a fishery for the following ecological, economic and practical reasons. First, limpets are keystone species that regulate community composition on rocky shores. Second, if you remove them, their space is speedily occupied by alien mussels. Third, even on the west coast where their abundance is greatest, sustainable yields can only be set at about 7-10 tons, which is hardly an economically viable amount. Fourth, the quality of our limpets is not of the same quality as the South American limpets, which have a delicate, soft flesh. Accordingly, our limpets would command a considerably lower market price. Finally, if we cannot control illegality in our abalone fishery, then the significantly more accessible limpets are doomed if a targeted fishery is opened. Prof Branch does how...