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The PE Herald newspaper this morning reported that the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has finally commented on the furore raging about Raggy Charters' chumming for birds and/or sharks just off Hobie Beach. Lloyd Edwards of Raggy Charters admitted to the PE Herald on 29 March that he was effectively chumming just off Hobie Beach. The admission amounts to a breach of a number of laws as detailed in the blog article "PE operator caught chumming illegally: DEA Remains Silent", below. The DEA confirms that it is "investigating" the incident and that it does not support chumming in proximity to swimming beaches or "swimming events" but then bizarrely the DEA spokesperson, Zolile Nqayi, states that they are considering amendments to current legislation to regulate this kind of activity! Wait a minute, does DEA honestly believe that current legislation does not regulate and prohibit "such activity" unless proper permits are in place (which...

This blog has recorded a number of breaches of South African fisheries/environmental laws by the illegal boat based whale watching operator, Raggy Charters, based in Port Elizabeth. Despite Feike reporting each breach to the Department of Environmental Affairs, no action of any kind has been taken. Raggy Charters' black empowerment owner was, until recently, a senior SANParks employee. SANParks is part of the Department of Environmental Affairs and reports to the same Minister. However, the most recent conduct of Raggy Charters - and the continued refusal by DEA to act against Raggy Charters - is perhaps the most concerning. It was openly reported this week in a number of Port Elizabeth media that the vessel, Orca, which is owned by Raggy Charters, was seen chumming in the vicinity of Hobie (Humewood) Beach, PE's premier swimming and recreational beach. Chumming is usually undertaken to attract sharks, which is exactly what transpired as Hobie Beach had to be closed to public b...

A US$21.1 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to the Republic of Mozambique will enhance artisanal fisheries and increase the incomes of poor rural households in fishing communities, the United Nations rural poverty agency has announced. The loan agreement for the Artisanal Fisheries Promotion Project was signed today in Rome by Carla Elisa Mucavi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Mozambique to IFAD, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD. The loan will be extended to the country on highly concessional terms. Inshore waters in many coastal areas of Mozambique are becoming heavily overfished due to widespread use of fishing techniques such as beach seines, large weighted nets that can catch an entire school of fish. Catch sizes are falling, and return per unit of effort is starting to decline. However, many open sea areas along the coastline remain underexploited. The Artisanal Fisheries Promotion Project will encourage...

It was back in May 2010 when the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) took the decision to "provisionally" allocate permits to some and refuse permits to others in the lucrative and tourism driven boat-based whale watching (BBWW) and white shark cage diving (WSCD) sectors. These "non-decisions" (as Feike referred to them back in May 2010), were the continuation of a confused process which has only escalated in the levels of oddities, legal irregularities and financial costs to the two industries. And twelve months on since those legally flawed "decisions", we are no closer to any answers from the DEA or its minister. In the interim, a number of those new entrant applicants who were promised permits once the appeal process was over are in serious financial difficulty as the loans they took to secure access rights to vessels, payment of the hefty application fees and the services of consultants and lawyers to draft their applications are being called in...

Are you losing count of the number of Deputy Director-Generals there have been at the Department of Fisheries over the past year? Our count puts them at about 4! And now the latest, Mr Richard Seleke, has packed his bags and returned to the department of agriculture from where he came. The new acting DDG is Mr Joseph Sebola. He is the third DDG in a row who has no previous knowledge or experience in fisheries but who has been parachuted in to muddle about at Foretrust Building and perhaps learn the difference between a snoek and a hake. It must be noted that as with Mr Seleke and the previous DDG's, there is no official news from the Minister that yet another person enters the office of the DDG at fisheries. Does she anticipate a short stay for Mr Sebola as well? A quick google for Mr Joseph Sebola's experience confirms that he, like Mr Seleke, has his roots in the department of agriculture in Pretoria and has no prior knowledge or understanding about fisheries. The lack of se...

In light of the Minister of Fisheries' confirmation to Parliament that her department may not lawfully collect any fish levy from any right holder without having first issued a tax invoice, every single quota holder (and that would mean all 3000 quota holders) will be entitled to immediately demand a refund of the fish levies that they paid to the department last year. In addition, there are numerous right holders that were unlawfully charged a "penalty". This amount needs to be refunded as well. In addition, right holders could legitimately claim refunds for all previous levies paid where the department failed to issue proper tax invoices. This could go all the way back to the 2005/2006 financial year. Based on the Minister's statements to Parliament, she and her department will have to refund more than R53 million rand in levies that were unlawfully collected from right holders. Incidentally, the collection of levies without a tax invoice is also a violation of the ...

In a recent response to a Parliamentary question posed to her by the Official Opposition in the National Assembly, the Minister of Fisheries confirmed that her fisheries department only collected fish levies after issuing invoices to each and every right holder by post. The full set of questions and answers are provided below: Question 159 for written reply: National Assembly, Mr M J Ellis (DA) to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: (1) What amount in levies was collected from fishing rights holders during the 2009-10 financial year; (2) whether all invoices for these levies have been sent to rights holders for the 2010-11 financial year; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (3) whether there have been cases during the 2010-11 financial year where fish levies have been collected without invoices having been issued; if not, how was this conclusion reached; if so, how can this be justified; (4) whether, in the cases where such levies have been colle...

On 1 March 2011, in an article in the Cape Times titled "LIGHTS GO OUT FOR FISHING HARBOURS", the department of fisheries (DAFF) claims to not be responsible for, inter alia the navigational lights at our various proclaimed fishing harbours. It tries to blame Transnet. What DAFF's denial of responsibility does indeed confirm is that this is a department that clearly does not have the professionals skill available to understand what its legal mandate is, let alone actually run fisheries management. Let us be clear about this. DAFF is responsible for the maintenance and proper management of our fishing harbours. Not Transnet; not Public Works. In terms of section 27 of the Marine Living Resources Act of 1998, the Minister of Fisheries is authorised to declare harbours as "proclaimed fishing harbours". The harbours mentioned in the Cape Times article are all proclaimed fishing harbours. Once a harbour is proclaimed to be a fishing harbour, the Minister is further e...