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ON 15 DECEMBER 2022, Minister Creecy issued her provisional appeal decisions in the Hake Inshore Trawl fishery. The provisional decisions are a consequence of the Minister losing a review application brought by Hacky Fishing earlier in 2022.  On 26 September 2022, the Western Cape High Court reviewed and set aside the Minister's appeal decisions pertaining to her decisions concerning the evaluation and scoring of 4 other Category B new entrant appellants concerning their respective scores allocated for "vessel access/ownership".  In short, the Minister's original appeal decisions with respect to how she evaluated and scored the appellants on "vessel access/ownership" was determined as being inconsistent, arbitrary and unlawful.  The Minister re-scored 5 appellants, reducing the vessel access/ownership scores to zero for 3 appellants (Cape Fish Processors CC, Zimele Fishing Enterprises CC & Ocean Ukhozi Fishing (Pty) Ltd), confirming Hacky Fishing's z...

On 15 December 2022, the Fisheries Minister, Barbara Creecy, issued her first ever statement on the status of the #FRAPFAILURE appeals process. MORE THAN 5 MONTHS AFTER THE APPEALS PROCESS CLOSED AND 15 DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE FIRST YEAR OF THE ALLOCATED FISHING RIGHTS . To say that the process is mired in turmoil is an understatement. The appeal decisions in the tiny KZN Prawn Trawl fishery demonstrate the extent of the unlawfulness and the lack of basic understanding of the economic structure of a really small fishery. But we should not be surprised that the Minister's decisions are fraught with illegality and a failure to understand the most rudimentary facts about fishing. The people advising her clearly are egregiously out of their depths.  Consider the already successfully reviewed Category B sector appeal decisions in the hake inshore trawl fishery where Hacky Fishing again successfully reviewed and set aside another Ministerial decision. Creecy has now issued a provision...