25 October 2007 - Media
Statement - Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism - THURSDAY, 25 OCTOBER
2007: “Yesterday’s tough decision by Cabinet
to support the suspension of wild abalone
(also known as perlemoen) commercial fishing
will ensure the survival of the species
and will also ensure that our children and
the generations that follow will know what
perlemoen is.” These were the words of Marthinus
van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental
Affairs & Tourism, welcoming the Cabinet
decision in this regard.
“To suspend fishing in any fishery is a
very difficult decision to take as we are
aware that such a decision will have an
impact on the livelihoods of many people
and families in the industry. We are unfortunately
at a point where the commercial harvesting
of wild abalone can no longer be justified
because the stock has declined to such an
extent that the resource is threatened with
commercial extinction. The main causes of
the decline in abalone stocks are poaching
and the migration of West Coast Rock Lobster
into the abalone areas. Rock Lobsters consume
Sea Urchins that provide shelter to juvenile
abalone. This in turn subjects the juvenile
abalone to increased mortality. Studies
further show that unless decisive and immediate
action is taken, the resource will collapse
completely with little prospect of recovery.
For the past few years the recommendation
from our departments managers and researchers
has been that the fishery is in crisis and
that closure could not be avoided. We are
now at the point where the Total Allowable
Catch (TAC) reached a record low of 125t
for the 2006/7 season. The only responsible
option left to me as Minister, is to take
the unfortunate decision to suspend fishing
in the abalone fishery in terms of Section
16 of the Marine Living Resources Act,”
the Minister said.
In the early years, catches of abalone
were unregulated and landings escalated
to a high of nearly 3000 tons in 1965, before
declining rapidly to a point in 1970, when
the first commercial quotas within a Total
Allowable Catch (TAC) were introduced. The
stabilising effect of a TAC managed fishery
was apparent, with catches remaining relatively
constant at 600t - 700t per year between
1970 and 1995.
Over the past 10 years, due to declining
resources, the TAC has had to be reduced
annually from 615t in 1995 to a record low
of 125t for the 2006/7 season. In 2004,
when determining the total global TAC for
abalone, the Minister said “I also want,
however, today to give notice that if there
is not a drastic decline in poaching I will
have to apply my mind at the start of the
next season as to whether it is perhaps
time to consider a complete ban on all Perlemoen
harvesting for a period of ten years to
allow the resource to recover.” In determining
the TAC for the previous season the Minister
furthermore announced the reduction of the
TAC to zero in 3 of the 7 zones.
The Minister added that it is also important
to reflect that worldwide, abalone fisheries
have either closed or are threatened by
commercial extinction, for example the United
States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New
Zealand. The North American fisheries have
now been closed for more that ten years.
It has been suggested that such fisheries
are slow to recover because closure was
delayed.
“There are currently 302 rights holders
(262 individual divers and 40 legal entities
in the form of close corporations) operating
in the sector with about 800 jobs, including
the individual divers. These are the people
and families this decision will impact on
the most. We have therefore consulted with
the Department of Labour and jointly developed
a Social Plan to mitigate impacts of suspending
Wild Abalone Commercial Fishing. This plan
includes our departments commitment to developing
a sustainable aquaculture industry and the
issuing of additional permits for whale
watching and shark cage diving,” the Minister
concluded.
To ensure that the suspension of harvesting
is observed, monitoring and control on the
part of the Department will be up scaled.
Abalone population dynamics will also be
monitored through regular research surveys.
Mava Scott (Acting Chief Director: Communications)
