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If ever an appellate authority remained committed to repeating a comedy of errors, the Minister of Fisheries' repeated unlawful and irregular decision-making processes in the hake inshore trawl and sole fishing sectors are cases in point. Bad decisions in law and fact were made repeatedly since July 2017. The comedic errors are of course far from funny. These bad decisions simply annihilate any confidence left in the beleaguered fisheries regulator. They harm legitimate private capital interest in the sector. Instead, what we do see is an increase in illicit capital looking at ways to launder their cash and bribe their way to fishing rights.  These bad decisions have a profound negative impact on right holders trying to keep people employed and ensuring investments return a decent income.  The question is, given these multiple unlawful decisions, a multiplicity of review applications and adverse orders against the Fisheries Minister (the only hake inshore trawl fisher...

On 19 February 2020, the National Prosecuting Authority addressed correspondence to the Fisheries Branch seeking urgent clarification as to whether the Fisheries Branch has -  1. Ringfenced the US$7.45 million (±R111 million) that were repatriated by the Government of Jersey (United Kingdom) for the purpose of investing the monies for the singular objective of recovering depleted fish stocks, particularly West Coast rock lobster; and 2. Established the required Marine Living Resources Fund sub-accounts into which the repatriated funds would be transferred; and 3. Established the Project Implementation Committee, responsible for overseeing the implementation of the marine living resources recovery projects which would be funded by the "Bengis Funds".  The NPA reminded the Fisheries Branch that it has been more than 6 months since the Jersey Government had transferred these funds and the Governments of Jersey and the United States require an update as to whethe...