SADSTIA REPORT ON FISHING RIGHTS DURATION
The South African Deep Sea Trawl Industry Association ("SADSTIA") has published an incredibly important report that should certainly guide the significant revision of the MLRA, which is now at least a decade over due. The SADSTIA report correctly hones on the issue of the duration of fishing rights. Fishing right duration and the increasing collapse in the confidence of any fishing allocation process will increasingly deter any meaningful stabilization of the moribund SA fishing industry - let alone spur any growth or significant investment. What we have seen since the 2016 rights allocation process is a significant erosion in the confidence of these processes & the allocation of rights especially since we have repeatedly seen - (a) consistent findings of unlawfulness by the high court setting aside hundreds of fishing rights; & (b) the minister repeatedly self-reviewing decisions setting aside wholesale allocations 5/6 years into a rights allocation period....