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          On 24 November 2020, the Fisheries Department under the signature of Sue Middleton (Acting DDG of Fisheries) issued an undated  and (unlawful) retrospective  exemption notice to all current right holders in those fishery sectors where rights are set to expire on 31 December 2020 and to the former right holders in the South Coast rock lobster fishery. These fishing rights expired on 30 September 2020 and operators in that fishery have effectively been fishing unlawfully since that date.  The exemption notice is unlawful and invalid in so far as it seeks to apply retrospectively to the South Coast rock lobster sector and regularise fishing from 1 October to 24 November 2020. Neither the DDG (as delegatee), nor the Minister (As the original repository of authority), has the authority to issue exemptions that apply retrospectively. The Marine Living Resources Act does not permit the retrospective application of such powers and as such t...

With less than 30 fishing days left before the end of 2020 and the official termination of more than 1000 commercial and small-scale commercial fishing rights, the Department of Fisheries and its Minister continue to remain silent on what will happen come 1 January 2021. The last time the Minister mentioned "fishing rights" was back on 23 July 2020 when she promised that the small-scale commercial fishing allocations in the Western Cape will be completed before the end of 2020. That is another failed undertaking. Of course, for most of the fisheries, such as tuna, hake trawl, small Pelagics and hake long line, we fully expect the unlawful issuance of "exemptions" which will authorise incumbent right holders to continue fishing despite the termination of section 18 fishing rights. These erstwhile right holders will nonetheless have to apply for section 13 fishing permits and other permits, such as export permits, to continue operating during 2021.  Of concern however...

On 10 November 2020, a month after the minister failed to honour her undertaking of gazetting the draft fishing sector policies for "FRAP 2021", a new set of timelines were presented to Parliament.  In short, the new timelines are 6months delayed BUT confirms that all fishing rights and appeals will be completed before 31 December 2021. I n other words, the revised timeline is even more ridiculous than the previous one .   Here is the convoluted thinking of the revised timeline : Appointment of FRAP Service Providers: Nov 2020 – Jan 2021 ( A key problem with the types of service providers who services have been identified is that there is no business analyst or process experts to be appointed. In addition, the advertisement does not seek to appoint any IT specialists which means the FRAP will certainly be an ancient hard copy application process ). Finalise Small-scale resource splits and Commencement of Allocation of Fishing Rights: Nov 2020 ( This is entirely unlikely a...