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During the debate on the Fisheries Minister's budget vote, Pieter van Dalen (DA, MP) stated that he had been informed that Minister Rob Davies had been instructed by Cabinet to rescue fisheries from the woeful Tina Joemat-Pettersson. Van Dalen now advises that he can confirm that Minister Rob Davies has in fact been deployed to assume a number of key responsibilities and functions from Joemat-Pettersson. It is of course entirely unclear how this "deployment" is to function in law and in practice. Fisheries management is already schizophrenic with functions under the Marine Living Resources Act split between the fisheries and environmental affairs ministers. Instead of dismissing Joemat-Pettersson, will the President really act to compound the confusion and mayhem by adding a third minister to the MLRA pot? Imagine, being an official at DAFF? Who is your Minister! The wonderful confusion and mayhem that is our government. Guided solely by patronage networks and self ...

Thank-you Tina Joemat-Pettersson and her cadres at DAFF (including Ms Mymoena Poggenpoel) for helping to collapse the South African lobster industry, particularly the nearshore artisinal fishery. Food Lovers Market has announced that it will no longer be selling the famed West Coast Rock Lobster in its stores. One can assume that all the major retailers, leading hotels and restaurants will follow suit. FOOD   LOVER 'S MARKET WILL NO LONGER STOCK WEST COAST ROCK LOBSTER AS OF APRIL Food   Lover 's Market has announced that it will stop selling West Coast Rock Lobster in its stores. This is in response to the recent reports of the dire state of the West Coast Rock Lobster resource. This means that  Food   Lover 's Market will no longer be purchasing Rock Lobster for resale and will sell out its existing stock - as of 15 April 2013 it will no longer stock the product. This decision is in line with  Food   Lover 's Market's Sustainable Seafood Policy a...

Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson's reckless and unlawful conduct last year which saw her department's managers unlawfully amend the west coast rock lobster TAC and thus ignore her own department's scientific advice, has now resulted in the WWF-SASSI programme downgrading lobster from its green list to orange, effectively threatening the continued export of lobsters to the EU, North American and other markets concerned about sustainability. This of course will not impact exports to China.  The downgrading will certainly hit small-scale lobster fishers the hardest and is yet another indication how - despite all the empty populist rhetoric from this Minister about addressing poverty and unemployment and empowering small-scale fishers - Minister Joemat-Pettersson and her band of deployed cadres are without doubt the greatest threat to the sustainability of the SA fishing industry (large and small-scale). By listing lobster on the orange list, SASSI is effectively telli...

The Fisheries Minister put her department's budget to Parliament on 29 May 2013 for the annual budget vote, which was subsequently approved by an ANC-led majority vote.  What, if anything does the budget say? Well, it actually says nothing of substance. Did we really expect anything of substance from this Minister?  The only notable bit of news is that the fisheries budget is set at R434 million including salaries and vessel operational and management costs. The Minister's budget was silent on four key crises afflicting her department. Not a word was said on - the fishery patrol and research vessels, their status, what repairs have been effected to them to date, at what cost, and when they are expected to sail. Silence. the status of the observer programme which is supposed to be up and running according to DAFF's undertakings to the Marine Stewardship Council by June 2013 (ie by next week). Feike understands that the observer programme tenders have now lapse...

Below is Pieter van Dalen's (DA, MP) fisheries budget speech. The DA did not support the DAFF budget vote. The Minister's complete budget speech is available at www.daff.gov.za "Mr Chairperson The Fishing Communities are suffering tremendously.  My experience with them has made me realise that Government is failing them dismally. Today I want to dedicate my speech to the fishing community of Paternoster. Recently two fishermen from Paternoster got lost at sea for three days. Christie and his son Brendon had to suffer this hardship and near-death experience because of the ill-defined and badly-conceptualised policies of the Department of Fisheries.  Ek wil hulle welkom heet hier vandag Christie en Brenden Jordaan is die twee vissermanne wat weggeraak het en na 3 angswekkende dae op die see in dik mis weer teruggevind is. By hulle is hulle vrou en moeder Brenda wat self 3 dae beproef is en ander vissers Pieter Coraizin, Naomie en Charls. Voorsitter hierdie mense i...

The Minister's budget vote and the speech in support by Lulu Johnson of the ANC repeat two fundamental falsehoods. The Minister and her department have clearly decided to pretend that they are the saviors of small-scale fishers. In support of this fallacy, they have repeatedly made two false statements. FALLACY 1. The small-scale fishing policy and subsequent proposed amendments to the MLRA represent the first  ever interventions by the SA government to protect and acknowledge small-scale fishers. FACT: This is false for two reasons. Firstly, the fisheries policy of July 2001 explicitly recognised a specific regulatory regime and rights allocation process for small-scale commercial or artisinal fishers. Second, in 2005, the cluster management system introduced by the General Fisheries Policy further ring-fenced and recognised small-scale fishers thus exclusively allocating more than 73% of all fishing quotas to small-scale fishers. FALLACY 2. The department intends allocating 7...

The Minister of Fisheries has announced in a series of Gazettes published on 27 May 2013 that the comment period for -  the draft general fisheries policies (2013); each of the 8 draft sector policies (2013); and the draft MLRA amendment bill, 2013 has been extended to 14 June 2013.  The extension of the comment period has to be welcomed but in our view does not correct the serious legal deficiencies that afflicted the public consultation process which has been seriously prejudicial and exclusionary particularly to small-scale right holders along the west coast and the Overberg region.  However, one must now again question the Minister and her department on their stated objective of allocating fishing rights before they expire on 31 December 2013. Assuming that no interested party halts the current process by means of an interdict, the department must still overcome the following standard procedural hurdles: 1. Draft application forms have not yet b...

The Fisheries Department held an informal meeting on 27 May 2013 to discuss the draft tuna pole application form. The meeting was chaired by the Department's Craig Smith and proved to be a rather useful meeting aimed at discussing and conceptualising a draft application form for the fishery. The meeting was attended by approximately 25 persons from the pole sector. The draft application form presented was simply printout of the 2005 application form complete with out-dated references to medium term right holder applicants, right holder conduct during the 2002-2005 period etc. In short, the draft application form like the draft policies are at an early conceptualisation phase. The meeting yesterday, like the consultation meetings on the draft policies before that, was a meeting that can politely only be described as an early conceptualisation meeting; a meeting at which the department itself had little idea as to process, policy or timelines but was seeking industry input and boun...

We read from the draft MLRA amendment bill many strange and bizarre things. One of the more bizarre and confused provisions is the idea by the Minister of Fisheries that persons engaged in "non-consumptive use" will have to apply for a "right" to do so under section 18 of the MLRA.  Now, of course, the Minister does not define what "non-consumptive use" entails.  However, assuming  that "non-consumptive use" actually refers to what we in the industry refer to as boat-based whale and dolphin watching (ie watching marine mammals) and white shark cage diving, then the Minister of Fisheries is going to really upset the Minister of Environmental Affairs because she claims that she is in charge of whales, turtles, dolphins and those tourist attracting great white sharks.  And the Minister of Environmental Affairs will have good reason for being angry because just last year,  Tina Monica Joemat-Pettersson said on oath before the Western Cape Hi...

Feike has submitted its comments on the draft MLRA Amendment Bill. Our comments are quite lengthy and legally technical. A copy of our comments are available on request. We provide below a summary of our principal concerns and objections. 1. The comment period is hopelessly too short. South African law requires consultation on such matters to be fair and adequate. The draft bill is extremely lengthy (48 provisions long) and complex and affects a number of very different constituencies - commercial, small-scale, subsistence and rural fishers, recreational fishers and fish farmers. Further, the draft bill is also published for comment at the same time the fishing industry is considering a raft of fishing policies and preparing for the allocation of long term fishing rights. The comment period of less than 30 days is unlawful as it is contrary to the requirements of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act.  2. According to the department, it intends to submit the finalise...

We have commented previously on the irrationality of proposing a 7 year duration for the fishing quotas intended for allocation later this year.  However, one of the least black empowered fishery sectors - the tuna pole fishery - will be allocated rights for 15 years according to the draft fishing policy. Now this really places DAFF on the wrong footing. The draft tuna pole policy states that, "having regard to the new investment in vessels right holder" - (the failure of language here is normal and we reckon is part of DAFF' attempts at introducing a new language called Craplish which has been used extensively throughout the draft policies and draft Amendment Bill) - rights will be allocated for a period of 15 years (1 February 2014 - 31 January 2029). How does DAFF justify allocating 15 year long fishing rights to the tuna pole fishery but not to the other 7 sectors? And DAFF cannot now reduce the allocation period in the final version of the tuna policy, prin...

It would indeed be funny if it was not so damn tragic and threatening to thousands of livelihoods. Yes, the publication over the past few weeks of DAFF's bad cut-and-paste policies, complete with policy objectives that "... most importantly ... please, praise and glorify the one who provided and gave man the power to rule over the fish..." may be vilified and laughed at but the sad and awful reality is that these jokers employed as senior civil servants are actually in charge of a multi-billion rand fishing industry that employs thousands of important jobs.  In the Western Cape alone, where more than 90% of all commercial fishing activity is based, the loss of 10,000 jobs would increase regional unemployment by 1% from the current level of 23% which is lower than the national average of 25% but still appallingly high. Currently, DAFF's joker rights allocation process and draft policies threaten more than 1000 quotas and probably more than 10,000 jobs and incomes ...

On 14 May 2013, a week after an arbitrary and exclusionary consultation process had commenced on only some of the 8 sector specific fishing policies, the Minister of Fisheries gazetted the draft 8 sector policies for public comment... and in English only. And comment is due on 31 May 2013, providing less than a two week comment period on 8 sector policies which need to be considered with the draft general fisheries policy. The gazette is comprises more than 100 pages.  The unlawfulness of this process is compounded by the fact that the comment period on the draft general policy closed prior to the gazetting of these sector policies which - we were told by the Minister - HAD TO BE READ TOGETHER WITH THE SECTOR POLICIES!  The unlawfulness of the consultation process has been even further compounded by the Minister's unashamedly hypocritical and exclusionary consultation process. We have pointed out in a previous BLOG that the Minister has consciously decided to not consult ...

The department's draft traditional line fish policy (2013) - which remains an ungazetted discussion document - is yet another cut-and-paste of the current 2005 Traditional Line Fish Policy.  The draft policy is simply a regurgitation of the current Policy with a number of arbitrary additional objectives that are unrelated to the current Policy objectives and whether any of these have been met or to what extent the current policy objectives have been surpassed or not achieved. For example, one policy objective states that it is the intention of the department to "lay the foundations for the management of this fishery on a regional basis". Wake Up, DAFF! The foundations for regional fisheries management were laid back in 2005 when this policy objective was first mooted! They are laid; has it worked and what now in 2013? In clause 9.1, the draft policy confirms that South Africa remains committed to implementing an ecosystems approach to fisheries management by ... 2010...

Feike submitted the following commentary on the draft General Fisheries Policy, 2013. Despite the expiry of the comment period on the draft General Policy (10 May 2013), the Fisheries Minister has not gazetted a single sector specific fishing policy. Any comment on the draft General Fishing Policy is simply impossible without sight of these sector specific policies. Indeed the entire schema of the draft General Fisheries Policy is premised on the peremptory instruction by the Minister that the General Fisheries Policy must be read together with the applicable fishery specific sector policy.    The Cover Page of the draft General Policy states that -    "THIS POLICY MUST BE READ WITH THE APPLICABLE FISHERY SPECIFIC POLICY (available at www.daff.gov.za)"   Similarly, PART A, Clause 1.1 instructs all readers of the draft General Fishing Policy 2013 that the policy must be read in conjunction with the fishery specific sector policies.    No...

It has to be a particular combination of utter arrogance and stupidity to commence the second phase of the fishing rights consultation process once again without having notified interested and affected persons of the process or even having gazetted the sector specific policies or application forms.  The draft application forms and sector policies are nowhere to be found - not on the DAFF website, not at fishery control offices or at DAFF's Customer Services Centre in Cape Town.  And to compound the illegality of the process, DAFF issued informal emails to certain right holders only the day after the consultation process started in Stillbaai on 8 May - the Stillbaai consultation was on the hake handline fishery only and we understand from those who were able to attend that the draft sector hake handline policy is ... you guessed it ... a another copy-and-paste job of the 2005 hake handline fishery policy!  And what is the point of the consultation process whe...

Desmond Stevens, who was acting Chief Director of Fisheries Resource Management, has now been appointed as the acting DDG of Fisheries despite the fact that he lacks any post matric (Grade 12) qualification and fisheries experience.  The advertised minimum requirements for the post of DDG requires extensive fisheries knowledge and experience and a post graduate university degree. He has neither but is a member of the ANC's Military Veterans Wing and we reckon that one does need much more than this to qualify for senior appointment in government these days. 

Feike has been inundated with speculation as to who the next acting DDG of the fisheries branch will be. This is not unexpected considering that this imploded and increasingly pointless branch (they are now going to even hand-over the Sarah Baartman to environmental affairs!) has had 10 acting DDG's to date. We wont consider the grating Greta Apelgren-Narkedien a permanent deployment because she held out for less time than most of the previous actors. The most common name being speculated to "act' is that of the Minister's lap-dog, Desmond Stevens. Many people are strangely perplexed by this possibility noting that he is "only" a director and so cannot lawfully act at the level of DDG and of course that he does not have any post-matric qualification (but you can blame apartheid for that) and he keeps admitting in public that he knows nothing about fisheries management. We of course cant understand the reason for the ' perplexion '! Firstly th...

It has been confirmed that the department of environmental affairs (DEA) will re-take control over and possession of the offshore fisheries patrol vessel, the Sarah Baartman. The Sarah Baartman, together with the remaining 2 fisheries research and 3 inshore patrol vessels, remain in Simonstown Harbour. Feike has been informed that the reason for the vessels still remaining in harbour is that SAMSA will not authorise the new service provider to take possession of the vessels.  It remains unclear as to how the DEA will deploy the vessel as fishery control officers are employed by the fisheries department. However, this minor bureaucratic can be easily attended to and probably has been addressed in the recent memorandum signed between the two departments. The most important benefit is that the Sarah Baartman will be put to sea as the DEA does not bear the same irrational and personal vendetta against Smit Amandla who was able to put the research vessel, Algoa, to sea within a cou...