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The North Gauteng High Court on 24 November 2014 handed down one of the most important judgements in recent times concerning the determination of catch allowances. The application was brought by, inter alia , the Border Deep Sea Angling Association against the Fisheries Department (DAFF) and its Minister.  The Association sought to review and set aside a 23 November 2012 decision by the Minister to ban all harvesting of red steenbras by recreational fishers. The Association contended that the decision was, inter alia , irrational, taken arbitrarily and capriciously and one that no reasonable person in the position of a minister would take.  The court agreed with the Association, reviewed and set aside the red steenbras ban in so far as it concerns recreational fishers and awarded costs against DAFF and the Minister.  The full judgement is available from Feike on request. The judgement however provides a crucial precedent and standard for the determination of ...

For sixth year in succession, the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) failed to secure adequate protection for shark species. South Africa is a founding ICCAT member. In particular, the meeting failed to adopt a resolution requiring ICCAT's 49 member states to ensure that their fishing vessels land all sharks with fins attached in a bid to substantially halt the reprehensible practice of finning at sea. At present, ICCAT requires the weight of all fins on board vessels to account for 5% of the total shark trunk weight (a fin-to-shark weight ratio) when landed. This is of course a significant loophole which is regularly abused.  The defeated proposal, which was co-sponsored by South Africa, would have required that fins must be landed naturally attached to the shark. Japan and China effectively blocked the proposal to adopt the "fins-attached" resolution.  However, we believe that South Africa should ...

There is no doubt that the scourge of illegality afflicting our high value inshore fisheries such as lobster and abalone will completely decimate these mainstay fisheries in the not too distant future. There is broad agreement about this.  We must also accept that the Fisheries Department will never be able to realise their "recovery plans" given the dearth of skills, ability, resources and budgets available. That the system of long term fishing rights - meant to encourage legality and investment in fisheries - is fast collapsing with each approaching re-allocation process and being replaced with chaotic and valueless "exemptions", will only spur on illegality.  We are witnessing the intrusion of increasing levels of organised criminality into the lobster fishery. These forms of organised criminality are usually associated with the gang-run abalone poaching syndicates.  So how does the South African commercial lobster industry protect the jobs it sustai...

The Fisheries Department has confirmed that the lobster TAC for the 2014/2015 season has been cut by 17% as follows: Commercial Fishing (Offshore): 1120.25 tons (previously 1356.56 tons); Commercial Fishing (Nearshore): 376.10 tons (previously 451 tons); Subsistence (Interim Relief Measure) Fishing: 235.45 tons (previously 276 tons);  and Recreational Fishing: 69.20 tons (previously 83.5 tons) The department's press statement states that the "2014/15 season for recreational fishing of WCRL will open on Sunday, 15 November 2014, and will close on Monday, 6 April 2014." The season will actually start on Saturday 14 November. Sunday will of course be the 16th. As previously reported on this BLOG, the recreational fishery will be restricted to 21 fishing days spread between SATURDAY   15 November and the Easter Weekend as follows: November: 15 November 2014 to 16 November 2014 ( 2 days ) December:   16 December 2014 ( 1 day) December/January ...