The Department of Fisheries recently unlawfully elected to amend the deadline by which applications for the transfer of fishing rights had to be submitted. That date was brought forward from 31 December 2020 to 11 December 2020.
The decision unsurprisingly has not elicited a legal challenge from the fishing industry given the industry's ongoing reluctance to challenge an increasingly unlawful and failing Fisheries Department.
However, bureaucratic failure and incompetence does not end commercial and trade realities.
So, what happens if a shareholder or member of a fishing corporation wishes to sell their shares/member's interest?
The short answer is that from 1 January 2021 the department and its minister will have absolutely no jurisdiction over regulating the sale of these shares or interest because section 21 of the Marine Living Resources Act and the 2009 Transfer of Commercial Fishing Rights Policy only applies to the sale of shares/interest involving corporations holding fishing rights. With effect from 1 January 2021, corporations in the 12 affected fishing sectors will no longer have fishing rights but will continue to operate in terms of a section 81 exemption (in itself an unlawful regulatory process). An "exemption" is not subject to regulation under section 21 or the Transfer of Rights Policy.
Accordingly, any shareholder or member of a corporation that currently holds a fishing right, will be able to freely sell and trade their shares / interest after 1 January 2021.
No comments:
Post a Comment