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 I have worked through the entire government gazette issued on 20 September 2021 containing 9 draft sector policies and the draft transfer of rights fishing policy.  Should you require detailed advice and analysis on specific policies, you are welcome to contact me. It is simply not possible to draft a blog article setting out that level of analysis and detail.  The overwhelming conclusion having read these draft policies is that they are the product of incorrigible poor intellect and knowledge of our fisheries sectors, economies and communities. None of these policies will withstand any half-decent judicial review. Like the Draft General Policy 2021, these draft policies are crap. The construction of entire paragraphs is nonsensical and an awful abuse of the English language.  Bad policy that will destroy value chains, jobs, investments and entire fisheries economies are prevalent.  How can you create policy that will exclude an entire vessel fleet in an entire...

On the 13 September 2021, the Minister of Fisheries, Barbara Creecy, published the 2021 General Policy on the Allocation of Commercial Fishing Rights ("the General Policy"). There is a 30-day notice and comment period - effectively members of the fishing industry and other interested parties have until 14 October 2021 to comment.  So how good or bad or acceptable is this draft policy? This is a brief analysis of the draft 2021 General Policy.  Is this the 2019 DRAFT General Policy with a newish title and cover page?  In February 2019, Minister Zokwana published a draft General Policy for comment. The 2021 General Policy is an identical copy of that 2019 draft! It took Minister Creecy nearly 3 years to publish a 2019 draft Policy. This is an incredible case of failure and prejudice to members of the fishing industry.  To compound the failure, none of the industry submitted comments have been considered or included in the current 2021 draft General Policy.  Minist...