The Mindless of Irony of Refusing Small Scale Co-ops Access to Commercial Fishing Methods

On 22 August 2025, Minister Dion George denied a request by small-scale fishing co-operatives to be permitted to use commercial fishing methods (trawling, long lining & purse seining) to harvest fishing rights allocated to the co-operatives. 

Essentially, the small-scale co-ops are saying that fishing rights allocated to the co-ops - such as hake hand line quotas - are of zero value because they cant fish for hakes and small pelagics without access to trawl, long line and purse seine gear.

George is correct to deny the co-ops access to "commercial" fishing methods as it would indeed contradict the legal basis for establishing the small-scale fishing sector and the co-operative system. 

But the decision of course points to 2 fundamental contradictions and policy failures:

The first is that his department has unlawfully insisted on allocating a portion of the squid TAE to co-ops in the Eastern Cape, thus effectively granting them access to the very commercial gear he is denying these co-operatives that predominantly operate in the Western Cape. So George and his department have adopted one set of rules for the Eastern Cape Co-ops and another for the Western Cape. And those Eastern Cape squid co-ops are nothing more than paper quotas and extortionists threatening squid operations and only seeking vast rents to purchase fancy cars. 

The second is that the co-ops are doomed to failure because they were created exclusively for the ANC to buy votes in the Eastern and Western Capes using fisheries resources as a social grant. We have repeatedly stated this. The application by the co-ops and the response from George both unequivocally confirm the failure of the co-op system and also confirm that they exist despite the fact that they are not economically sustainable; they cannot sustainably access nearshore fisheries resources; they are nothing more than a rent-seeking class of random people allocated fishing quotas worth nothing more than a social grant. 

The DA when in opposition correctly opposed the institution of the co-op system for these very reasons. Honestly, I dont see Dion George having the courage and leadership abilities to dismantle this system of patronage and economic failure in fisheries management. 

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