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The Cape Times (26 July 2011) reports that one of the 19 people arrested as part of an abalone poaching syndicate is Samuel (Sammy) Brett, 42. Brett was an ANC candidate for ward councillor in the recent local government elections. A senior ANC source confirms that Brett stood as the ANC’s official candidate during the recent municipal elections for Ward 2 in the Gansbaai area. The source also says Brett’s name was on the list that was submitted to the IEC ahead of the elections. Brett has a number of previous convictions relating to transgressions of the Marine Living Resources Act. Brett is by no means the only senior local ANC caught poaching abalone. If we recall, in 2009 a local ANC leader was caught with 2 474 fresh abalone outside Hermanus, after a short chase in a vehicle covered with stickers of the ruling party and its leader, Jacob Zuma. There is no news on whether this ANC leader was ever prosecuted or what happened to the 2474 freshly shucked abalone. Was this ANC leader e...

The Minister of Environmental Affairs finally issued her decisions on the appeals in the white shark cage diving sector on 25 July 2011. It took the Minister some 12 months to decide a mere 16 appeals. The permits issued are valid for five years, renewable annually in terms of section 13 of the Marine Living Resources Act. Of Feike's 5 clients in the white shark cage diving and boat-based whale watching sectors, four have been successful (2 new entrants and 2 exemption holders).

There can be no doubt that an organisation's public profile today is defined by its various e-platforms. Whether the platform is the "traditional" website, an interactive blog, Facebook, Twitter... these tell the world what you are thinking and where you are at. Used cleverly, these platforms market the organisation's vision and instills confidence in it. So the department of fisheries' website (it has no other e-platform to profile itself and speak to fishing industry) is a comical tragedy. Under "BREAKING NEWS", the latest news item is from October 2010! Has nothing remotely relevant happened in the fishing industry since October 2010? And don't bother with trying to open any of the other pages as they are still all under "construction"! Remember the "new" department of fisheries came into being in June 2009 - that is, in the previous decade! It took less time to build entire soccer stadiums. Under the "Management" lin...

The Cape Times this morning reports of a significant series of arrests of 19 people, including serving police officers alleged to be involved in the illegal harvesting and trade of wild abalone. It has been reported that the investigations into the syndicate's illegal activities spanned some three years and involved the Department of Fisheries (and its predecessor, MCM) and the South African Police Service. The arrest of serving police officers will come as little surprise to fishers who have been alleging police and fishery compliance officer complicity in the illegal harvesting of abalone for some time, having cited numerous examples in public and to the department. While we must recognise the important and invaluable work of the department of fisheries' compliance officers in the specialised unit for this important step forward, we must however caution against complacency. We read of literally dozens of arrests of poachers and syndicate members with little news of any succes...

The European Union has initialled a new Protocol to the fisheries agreement with Guinea Bissau, which maintains the conditions of the present Protocol i.e. fishing possibilities for 4,400 GRT for shrimp trawlers, 4,400 GRT (gross register tonnage) for fin-fish and cephalopod trawlers, 23 tuna seiners and longliners, and 14 pole-and-line vessels. The EU financial counterpart amounts to 4,550,000 EUR for the right to fish and 2,950,000 EUR for the support of the fisheries sector in Guinea Bissau. A new clause was added to allow for the suspension of the protocol if there is a breach of human rights and democratic principles. This fisheries agreement allows vessels mainly from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and France to fish in the Guinea-Bissau waters. The duration of the Protocol is for only one year since negotiations were delayed by the consultations held in 2011 between the EU and Guinea Bissau under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement. The Parties expect to have a new protocol nego...

A working group of the United Nations General Assembly in June recommended the establishment of a process that could lead to a multilateral agreement on high seas conservation and sustainable use. Specifically the recommendations call for crafting a legal regime under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdictions, including by designating MPAs. Currently no mechanism exists to designate MPAs on the high seas that would apply to all nations. High seas presently comprise 64% of the world's oceans. For more see www.iucn.org/?uNewsID=7612

Fishing Industry News has already reported on the fraudulent conduct of a con-man called Yusuf Achmat who presents himself as the "owner" of a defunct close corporation called MALAFA FISHING CC. Achmat is neither the "owner" nor a member of Malafa Fishing. Malafa does not own any assets and does not have any fishing quotas. Achmat himself owns nothing accept what he has recently purchased from his criminal proceeds (a car, expensive watches etc). He lives in Fairways on the Cape Flats in his mother-in-law's house. Achmat has gone on a prolific defrauding spree in the fishing industry this year alone. Relying on the fact that (for some odd reason) many industry operators will happily accept being defrauded without even reporting the fraud to the SAPS, let alone suing for the recovery of the money, Mr Achmat appears to have stolen approximately R355,000 from commercial operators in the fishing industry and has become bolder as he continues to escape sanction, unti...