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On Friday 14 May 2021, the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (or whatever it calls itself these days) published three sets of draft Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Surveys (SEIAS) in the demersal shark, hake long line and hake deep sea trawl fishery sectors. On Monday 17 May 2021, a fourth & fifth draft SEIAS for the small pelagic and tuna pole fisheries were published. It is uncertain as to whether any other SEIAS were published as the department has not published any of these documents on its website, in the government gazette or in any newspapers as required by law.  Comments on each of these five drafts are due at 16h00 on 27 May 2021. It must be noted that as at 15:00 on 17 May 2021, there is no mention of these documents and the comment period on www.environment.gov.za, the Minister's twitter account or the department's official twitter page.    There is no possible justification or rational reason for such an abbreviated notice and co...

 On 15 March 2021, the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries published two sets of FRAP-related tenders. One was for the appointment of an IT firm that has to provide an IT solution for the FRAP and the second concerned the appointment of a FRAP "Implementer" that would be responsible for essentially everything from consultations, the conducting of the 12 SEIAS, development of policies and administering the entire FRAP.  Regardless of the suitability of the TOR's, the question that we have been asked to answer is, can this "start" of the process result in an allocation by year-end. The short answer is a definitive NO ! Here is why. Firstly, we have had this stillborn issuing of tenders already - back in November 2020. Five months later, we are back to square 1. But let us pretend to be awfully gullible and pretend that come the end of April 2021, the Department appoints two service providers as envisaged and these teams get cracking immediately. ( It...

In November 2020, the Minister of Fisheries published her second revised FRAP timetable having completely missed her own deadlines for the preparation of socio-economic studies and reports and the publication of draft policies by October 2020.  We stated on the record that the revised timetable is impractical and unattainable .  Neither of the first two milestones set by the Minister have been achieved. This includes the appointment of service providers.  To date, no right holder or industry association have been communicated with or consulted in any manner whatsoever regarding socio-economic data, policy criteria, frameworks, possible processes and systems that would apply to any FRAP etc.  When will this government just admit that it does not have the resources and capacity to implement a fishing rights allocation process? We see the same incompetence and destruction (albeit with much more serious consequences) in the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and now wi...

We have a received a number of queries from quota holders (both companies and individual fishers) enquiring as to whether they require a permit to fish.  Quota holders whose rights expired at midnight on 31 December 2020 have been exempted from the provisions of section 18 of the Marine Living Resources Act until midnight on 31 December 2021. This means that these quota holders can continue fishing DESPITE not having a valid commercial fishing right issued in terms of section 18 of the MLRA.  Abalone quota holders have been operating without section 18 "rights" since 2013. "Interim relief" quota holders have been doing so since 2007/2008!  Accordingly, this exemption covers not having a right. And every quota holder whose right expired on 31 December 2020 can continue fishing as if their rights were issued in 2005 and 2013 as being valid until 31 December 2021.  What about the actual annual fishing permit issued every year in terms of section 13 of the MLRA? On 25 N...

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 corpora...

 On 30 October 2020, the Minister of Environment, Forestry (and Fisheries) signed a "performance agreement" with the President some 20 months after being appointed to this position. The performance agreements for all cabinet minister appear to have been published on either the 7th or 8th of December. Minister Creecy's agreement is accessible here . The agreement is completely silent on anything related to fisheries management, ocean governance, marine protected areas, aquaculture .... and critically a fishing rights allocation process worth an estimated R140 billion rand affecting 12 fishery sectors and thousands of fishers, fishing companies and jobs! Silent.  The agreement perhaps gives away the lie that the minister and her department is even seriously planning to allocate fishing rights before 2024 (the end date of the performance agreement)!  It is quite something to digest that the Minister of Environment, Forestry (and Fisheries) is prepared to publicly state she h...

South Africa's Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Commission confirmed on 25 November 2020 that it had found African Tuna Traders CC, owned and operated by Chris Hamel and Jonathan van Breda, to have used Umbhalo Trading (Pty) Ltd and Homotsego Trading (Pty) Ltd as black-operated fronts in contravention of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act ("B-BBEE Act").   The Commission's investigations revealed that black employees were presented as black shareholders for the purposes of obtaining the fishing rights that African Tuna Traders CC currently trades with in the fishing industry, with no participation or economic interest for these black employees.  The consequences could be severe for African Tuna Traders CC, Umbhalo Trading (Pty) Ltd and Homotsego Trading (Pty) as their fishing rights could now be cancelled in terms of section 13A of the B-BBEE Act, read with section 28 of the Marine Living Resources Act.  According to the investigation, African Tuna T...