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On Friday 20 October 2023, Barbara Creecy's appeal decisions of 12 June 2023 to introduce new entrants to the fishery and reduce the effort allocations of the historic right holders was interdicted pending a review application which has to be brought before the end of October 2023.  The court in  Visko Seeprodukte & 40 others v The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment & 48 Others  gave a clear indication as well that the review will likely succeed which will mean that the Minister's squid appeal decisions will be reviewed and set aside and she will have to start the squid appeals process afresh. However, Friday's court decision has a significantly broader impact than just halting the unlawful allocation of rights to new entrants in the squid fishery.  Judge Salie's judgement makes it clear that the Minister cannot simply allocate additional fishing rights on appeal without first consulting with every other existing right holder in the fishery. Sect...

I have had a number of urgent enquiries from both new entrant and historic right holder appellants who had successfully appealed for hake trawl fishing rights about applying for their section 13 fishing permits.  They are being told by DFFE that they can only apply in January 2024 for their permits. Is that correct? If it is, it could be a hollow victory as many have effectively run out of cash having been surviving for the past 2 years on savings. A study of the hake trawl rights allocation letter is revealing. Paragraph 3 of the letter states clearly that the right commences on the signature date of the letter - ie 5 October 2023.   "Duration of Right 3.1 The right is allocated from date of signature hereof and terminating on 28 February 2038." The right accordingly commenced immediately on 5 October 2023. The section 13 permits must accordingly be processed and issued to give effect to that right. To refuse to do so would be unlawful. Incidentally, it is unclear what p...

What is without question, is that the last three consecutive fishing rights allocation processes in 2013, 2016 and 2022 have been increasing failures.  The most recent FRAP was not only 2 years late but the appeals process remains incomplete almost 2 years after the first rights were allocated! The catastrophic social and economic harms faced by historic right holders alone who unlawfully lost their rights back in February 2022 are simply ignored by the Minister. In fact, she is on record in her most recent press statement of 4 October saying that she is of the view that no applicant is being prejudiced by her appallingly delayed appeal decisions.  The Minister is thus of the view that being unlawfully deprived on an income for 2 years is without prejudice. (It would be useful to understand if this Minister or any of her comrades would be willing to forgo an income for two years given that these wise cadres do not consider it harmful to be without incomes?) South Africans are ...

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries & Environment, Barbara Creecy, eventually published the hake deep-sea trawl appeal decisions on 4 October 2023. More than a month later than promised. 15 months after the appeals were filed in July 2022. And 20 months after the first rights were allocated back in February 2022.  Effectively, those that successfully appealed for a hake deep-sea trawl right will only get a 13-year right while their competitors received 15-year rights.  The disdain and contempt shown by the Minister toward the fishing industry has been truly breathtaking. It does not, however, help when the principal "fishing industry body", FISHSA, is more interested in fostering cordial relations with an inept and incompetent Minister and her department, rather than protecting fishing right holder interests.  The appeal decisions confirm a Minister desperate to appease the historic right holders by granting them fishing rights in a desperate bid to avoid litigation c...