30/05/2005: “Today marks
a watershed in the management of South Africa
's commercial fisheries,” said Marthinus van
Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs
& Tourism in Cape Town this morning. “Having
begun a wide consultative process in early
2004, I am pleased to present today the final
set of 19 fishery-specific policies and one
general policy that will guide the allocation
of long term commercial fishing rights for
periods between 8 and 15 years, estimated
to be worth about R70 billion. Now approved
by Cabinet, these policies will also set the
agenda for a range of post-allocation management
issues affecting each commercial fishery.
Perhaps most importantly,the allocation of
these long-term rights will bring real stability
to the fishing industry, supporting transformation
and smaller businesses by unlocking access
to capital financing for successful applicants.”
“The adoption of these policies is also important
because, for the first time ever, policy considerations
have been codified in significant detail,”
said the Minister. “ South Africa is one of
only a handful of countries that has codified
its fisheries policies, and is perhaps the
only country to have done so in such detail.
This provides an unambiguous guarantee for
the industry as a whole that, unless decided
otherwise by the Minister, our Department
and officials within the Department are bound
by the words and instructions contained in
the policies. The codification therefore provides
a level of certainty on critical issues that
never before existed.”
Addressing other advantages of the new policies
the Minister said: “Importantly for small-scale
rural fishers, questions about, for example,
when they may ‘transfer their quota' or ‘to
whom must they direct a query in the Department'
are now codified in the language in which
they are most comfortable.” The General Policy
and each of the policies in the Cluster B,
C and D fisheries will be available in Afrikaans,
isiXhosa, English and isiZulu. The Cluster
A policies will be available in Afrikaans
and English.
The draft policies published by the Minister
on 1 March 2005 have been taken, by the Deputy
Director-General and Chief Director: Fisheries
and Coastal Management, to more than 6000
fishers from more than 53 fishing communities.
The comments received have been considered,
documented and most have been incorporated
in one form or another into the General Policy
or the fishery specific policies.
The comments received can be broadly summarised
into the following categories:
Quantum pools : The majority of comment on
the Cluster A and certain Cluster B policies
focused on the fact that the quantum pools
would result in substantial quota losses for
large companies - regardless of whether they
are transformed or had performed;
Alignment with the Broad Based Black Economic
Empowerment Act (and the draft Codes of Good
Practice) : A number of comments received
alleged that the fishing policies failed to
give effect to the requirements of the Broad
Based Black Economic Empowerment Act and the
draft Codes of Good Practice;
Multi-fishery access : The majority of comments
received from fishers in the Cluster C and
D fisheries criticised the Department's policy
“one right holder, one quota” ;
Reliance on the resource : This criteria was
of particular concern to fishers in the Cluster
B fisheries. The concern raised was that the
“50%” reliance factor was unrealistic and
would prejudice the best performing right
holders who have diversified operations to
guard against the vagaries of the market;
Duration of rights : A number of right holders
involved in fisheries such as the squid, inshore
trawl and pelagic fisheries proffered that
the duration of rights in these particular
fisheries should be 15 years and not 8, 10
and 12 years respectively; and
Technical and factual comments
“In the light of these comments, every policy,
from the general policy to the oyster policy
has been amended. Certain policies such as
those in the hake trawl, horse mackerel, south
coast rock lobster, small pelagics, west coast
rock lobster, net fish, hake handline, squid
and hake long line policies have been significantly
amended,” said the Minister. “Before some
of the most crucial amendments are addressed,
it is important to confirm that the foundations
upon which the draft policies were built remain
intact and have in fact been strengthened.”
The allocation of fishing rights will be
managed in terms of the clustered approach
to fisheries management. The 19 different
fishing sectors remain grouped into four clusters.
This was done in response to the call to simplify
and streamline the allocation process. The
clusters allow for the design of processes
that suit the different fishers involved in
the fisheries. Cluster A comprises the most
organised and capital intensive fisheries.
Cluster B comprises those fisheries that although
fairly well organised, are significantly less
capital intensive. Cluster C comprises large
numbers of fishers who are poorly organised
but who have access to valuable fish stocks.Cluster
D comprises those fishers that are not only
poorly organised but the fisheries they are
involved in are very marginal. The four clusters
remain as follows:
Cluster A
Hake Deep Sea Trawl,
Hake inshore Trawl,
Horse Mackerel,
Small Pelagics,
Patagonian Tooth fish,
South Coast Rock Lobster and
KZN Prawn Trawl.
Cluster B
West Coast Rock Lobster (off shore),
Hake Long line,
Squid,
Tuna Pole,
Seaweed and
Demersal Shark.
Cluster C
Handline Hake,
West Coast Rock Lobster (near shore).
Cluster D
Oysters,
White mussels
Net fishing (Small Nets/Gillnets and Beach
Seine/Trek-nets)
KZN Beach Seine .
According to the Minister, the evaluation
of every application submitted will take place
in terms of rational and judicially sanctioned
evaluation criteria. These criteria are as
follows, in the order of consideration:
Firstly, every application will have to satisfy
a set of exclusionary criteria which are peremptory
in nature and aimed at ensuring rational and
uniform decision-making. The exclusionary
criteria will include requirements pertaining
to lodging applications timeously, signing
applications submitted and paying the prescribed
application fees;
Secondly, every applicant that satisfies these
criteria will then be compared in terms of
a set of competitive criteria . In this way
only the most transformed and best performing
applicants should be allocated fishing rights
in the respective fisheries;
Thirdly, depending on the amount of fish available
for allocation, the successful applicants
will be identified; and
Finally, once the successful applicants have
been identified they will then be allocated
a proportion of the total allowable catch
or total applied effort as determined by the
Minister in terms of the Marine Living Resources
Act, 1998.
The final policies, as published by the Minister,
remain committed to the core considerations
set out in the draft General Policy. These
core considerations confirm the commitment
to carefully balancing a range of needs, including
ensuring:
The biological sustainability of harvesting
particular fish stocks;
Increased monitoring of the ecological impacts
of fishing;
The continued transformation of the fishing
industry; and
Equitable access by fishers along our coast
to fish so as to protect access to an important
food source.
This balance will be struck, for example in
the oyster fishery, by allocating rights to
pickers and not companies who have traditionally
dominated this sector to the detriment of
pickers. In the Cluster C and Cluster D fisheries,
such as netfish, lobster and hake handline,
provisional lists of intended successful applicants
will first be published for community comment
before the final lists of successful applicants
are made public. In fisheries such as squid,
the empowerment of crew via the creation of
a Squid Crew List remains a crucial policy
objective but the policy mechanism has been
refined.
However, although the draft policies remain
unchanged with respect to certain fundamental
policy considerations, a number of amendments
have been effected. The most significant are
the following:
Quantum pools : The final policies remain
committed to the affirmation of small and
medium right holders that are transformed
and have performed. Additionally, the policies
recognise that in certain fisheries, a number
of right holders hold very small quotas and
these right holders need to be allocated a
larger proportion of the TAC provided that
they are transformed and performed over the
duration of the medium term right. The precise
methodology in terms of which quantum will
be allocated will however be consulted on
with applicants on a fishery basis once the
successful applicants have been identified.This
methodology will however not compromise the
policy commitments to intervening decisively
in the various second economies in the fisheries
and affirming transformed right holders that
have performed.
Multi-fishery access: Right holders in the
Cluster C and Cluster D fisheries will be
entitled to hold multiple rights. The previous
policy of “one right holder, one quota” has
been abandoned. The effect of this policy
statement is that a traditional line fisher
may also hold a west coast rock lobster or
hake handline right. Applicants will have
to apply individually for and pay the application
fee for each fishing right they wish to have.
The Minister has paid particular attention
to comments made by west coast fishermen regarding
the decreasing availability of line fish and
west coast rock lobster along this historic
fishing coast.In an endeavour to alleviate
the difficult fishing conditions of the most
marginal and vulnerable lobster fishers, those
west coast rock lobster fishers that use a
roei bakkie (non-motorised rowing boat), will
be granted automatic access to snoek.
Reliance on the resource : With particular
reference to the Cluster B fisheries, the
draft policies spoke about preferring those
applicants that rely 50% or more on a particular
Cluster B fishery (such as hake lone line,
squid, tuna pole or west coast rock lobster
(off shore)). Submissions from a number of
interested and affected parties indicated
that this policy would in fact end up affirming
many right holders that failed to perform
or invest in the fisheries. Many successful
right holders in the Cluster B fisheries have
in fact been successful because they have
diversified their fishing interests across
a number of fisheries or industries within
fishing.The policy has been amended to address
this concern.
In terms of application forms , the Minister
is in the process of considering the comments
made on the draft Cluster A application forms.
A number of amendments to these forms will
have to be effected in light of the comments
received. The draft application forms for
the Cluster B, Cluster C and Cluster D fisheries
will be available for comment within the next
few weeks. Interested and affected persons
are advised to visit www.mcm-deat.gov.za or
their local fishery control office or read
the Department's fortnightly newsletter on
the rights allocation process – FishRights
, which is available at www.mcm-deat.gov.za
or from the local fishery control offices.
The comments on the proposed application
fees have also been considered by the Minister
and they remain as recently gazetted. Previously
where the commercial fishery application fee
was R6000 regardless of the size of the applicant
or the quantum allocated, and R500 for smaller
fisheries, the new system for application
fees will have regard to the fish being allocated
over the duration of the right to each applicant.
It will comprise of two parts: an initial
application fee, payable by all applicants,
and a further fee payable by successful applicants
upon the allocation of rights.
“To ensure the integrity of this process
the allocation of commercial fishing rights
will be carefully overseen by a consortium
of independent forensic auditors and legal
advisers,” said the Minister. In addition,
a dedicated team within the recently-established
Rights Allocation Unit, headed by Horst Kleinschmidt,
will be responsible for ensuring that the
allocations process occurs fairly, transparently
and on schedule.
“In conclusion,” said the Minister, “It must
be emphasised that the number of applicants
for fishing rights will far exceed the amount
of fish available for allocation. There will
therefore be many thousands of unsuccessful
and unhappy applicants. Although it will not
be possible to allocate fishing rights to
every applicant, let alone every fisher, our
Department remains committed to ensuring as
far as practicably possible the socio-economic
viability of fishing villages and towns. In
this regard, our scientists are continuously
looking to possible new fisheries or alternative
forms of marine based eco-tourism such as
boat based whale watching, shark cage diving
or SCUBA diving in MPA's.”
With respect to traditional line fish, the
Minister has received more than 350 written
comments. These are being considered and the
traditional line fish policy will be finalised
over the next four weeks.
Working timetable for the allocation of fishing
rights:
The timetable below is intended to provide
a guideline on the timeframes for the allocation
of fishing rights.
Gazetting of final Cluster A policies, final
application forms and invitations to apply
for CLUSTER A fishing rights: 13 June 2005
Gazetting of final Cluster B and C policies,
final application forms and invitations to
apply for CLUSTER B and C fishing rights:
July 2005
Gazetting of final Cluster D policies, final
application forms and invitations to apply
for CLUSTER D fishing rights: August 2005
Decisions on applications for Cluster A fishing
rights and Commencement of Consultation on
quantum for Cluster A fisheries: October 2005
Decisions on applications for Cluster B fishing
rights (including west coast rock lobster
near-shore) and Commencement of Consultation
on quantum: November 2005
Provisional decisions on applications for
Cluster C fishing rights and consultation
on provisional lists: November to January
2005
Decisions on Cluster C applications (excluding
west coast rock lobster near-shore – see point
5): February 2006
Provisional decisions on applications for
Cluster D fishing rights and consultation
on provisional lists: December 2005 to January
2006
Decisions on Cluster D applications: February
2006
