Minister increases quotas for small-scale fishers

From left to right: Hilda Adams (West Coast Small Scale Fishers Forum), acting deputy-director general Belemane Semoli and Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Willie Aucamp, and Troy Meyers (a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum Board), at a media briefing on Thursday 5 March. Photo: Liezl Human

Small-scale fishers around the country are breathing a sigh of relief after an announcement on Thursday that linefish quotas will increase and the crayfish season will be extended.

Fishing cooperatives had addressed Parliament in February to appeal the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE) decision to reduce the number of licensed linefish boats from 547 to just 77.

Minister Willie Aucamp told the media during a briefing in Cape Town on Thursday that all the appeals will be upheld, and an additional 297 vessels will be licensed.

He also announced that exemptions will be granted for West Coast Rock Lobster (crayfish) and the season will be extended by a month.

This comes after erroneous permits with reduced quotas were issued to fishers in December last year, despite an announcement by former DFFE minister Dion George that the industry crayfish quota would increase by 58%.

Aucamp acknowledged the crayfish season had been “jeopardised” by the permit issues. He said there were “computational discrepancies” and the quotas had to be recalculated. In the meantime, small-scale fishers will receive exemption permits.

“It is not fair that you have been born and grew up with the ocean in front of you, but you are not allowed to make a living out of that,” he said.

“These decisions directly affect small-scale fishing cooperatives across South Africa … It’s affecting tens of thousands of people relying on that income to look after their families,” he said.

Speaking at the briefing, Faex Poggenpoel, a fisher and chairperson of the primary small-scale fishing cooperative in Kalk Bay, said the “unprecedented” reduction in linefish vessels “posed the single biggest threat to our entire cultural identity, as we’ve been practising for over 200 years”.

He thanked the minister for urgently engaging with the fishers and reversing “this irrational, illogical, wrong decision in such a short space of time”.

Hilda Adams, chairperson of the West Coast Small-Scale Fishers Cooperative Forum, said small-scale fishers “had plenty of sleepless nights” while working on their appeals.

“I am really relieved,” she said. “I can’t wait to share this news with our constituencies in the province.”

Aucamp also committed to having a series of engagements with the sector starting in April.

“In terms of engaging further, there are a lot of things we’d like to contribute,” said Poggenpoel.

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