#FRAPFAILURE: AN APPEALS PROCESS IN TURMOIL

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 provisional addendum to her hake inshore trawl appeal decisions because of the Hacky court order. We review this provisional decision in a separate article. (But this will be the first of many addenda that Creecy will have to publish).

Let's return to Creecy's epic statement on 15 December 2022 on the appeals process. What does the statement confirm and highlight? 

• Firstly, it reconfirms that a total of 2473 applications for fishing rights were received across the 9 fishing sectors opened for the allocation of fishing rights in late 2021. 
• The Department received a total of 1 213 appeals by 29 July 2022. 
• The Appeals Directorate responsible for assisting with the administration of the appeals has adopted a phased approach to dealing with these appeals.
• Phase One of the appeal process relates to the Demersal Shark Sector, the KwaZulu-Natal Prawn Trawl Sector and miscellaneous issues arising (non-compliant and late appeals). This phase was apparently completed as at 2 December although only the KZN Prawn Trawl appeal decisions were published. 
• Phase Two of the appeal process relates to the South Coast Rock Lobster Sector and the Tuna Pole Sector. This phase is scheduled to be completed by end of February 2023.
• Phase Three of the appeal process relates to the Traditional Line Fish and Squid Sectors. 
• Phase Five of appeal process relates to the Small Pelagic Sector (Sardine and Anchovy).

The Minister and her team have clearly forgotten about the hake long line and hake deep sea trawl sectors as these dont feature in her statement. The statement also confirms that the appeals for phases 3 and 4 were only being "processed" by December 2022. There is no word at all about the phase 5 completion date for the small pelagic fishery. 

Effectively, what the statement confirms is that pretty much nothing happened with the appeals filed in July 2022 until probably late November when the 5 or so appeals in the KZN prawn trawl fishery were first looked at. 

In 2018, it took me and 2 other lawyers with the assistance of 5 support staff 45 days to work through 2000 west coast rock lobster appeals. Not a single decision was challenged in a court of law. This Minister  with the support of an appeals directorate, the state attorney and external counsel cant decide 1213 in more than 6 months! 

This is farcical. Year 1 of the #FRAPNEVER has ended and the appeals process has not yielded a single set of significant decisions yet! 

(But Creecy is just another ANC-deployed cadre. Incompetent, arrogant and incredibly beyond help. Like the failures of energy supply, water treatment, public transport, policing, education, health ... this lot are deeply committed to ensuring failure.)