appeal decisions for long term fishing rights
13 August 2006
The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk,
today, 13 August 2006, announced the appeal decisions for long-term commercial
fishing rights in the cluster a fisheries and squid. The cluster a fisheries
are the more industrial and capital-intensive sectors of the fishing industry.
These are the horse mackerel, hake deep sea trawl, hake inshore trawl, small
pelagics (anchovy and sardine) and South Coast Rock Lobster fisheries. These
decisions had been delayed by the complexity of the decisions, some of which
have required thorough deliberations by the Minister over several months as
well as the public hearing at which several fishing companies were invited to
address the Minister on certain issues, mostly relating to the determination of
black ownership of fishing companies. Following the public hearing the Minister
referred certain issues for further legal advice before finalising the
decisions.
The fishing industry is confronted by difficult operating conditions, in
particular high fuels costs and low catch rates. This has been exacerbated by a
declining Total Allowable Catch ("TAC") in several of the important fisheries.
In the past year the important hake stock had been reduced by 5,1 percent for
deep sea hake and 5,6 percent for inshore hake, sardine by 48,5 percent and
anchovy by 34,28 percent based on the initial TAC surveys. Commenting on this
Minister Van Schalkwyk stated that "it is important that sustainable catch
limits are set to safeguard our fish stocks. It is an unfortunate reality that
the reduced allocation to certain companies will compound the difficulties that
they already face in the fishing industry."
Several of the smaller black companies have seen substantial increases in
their allocations. "It has been a clearly stated objective to further increase
the transformation of the fishing industry and in particular to redistribute
significant portions of the TAC to smaller black quota holders that have
performed well over the medium term period," said Minister Van Schalkwyk.
The transformation of fishing companies measured on a flow through principle
was an important criterion for determining the amount of quota to be allocated.
"After this round of allocations, the fishing industry in now probably the most
transformed sector of the South African economy," said Minister van Schalkwyk.
This we have achieved even though it was a very difficult exercise in that we
had to bring about transformation of the industry within the reality of
declining fish stocks.
In the horse mackerel sector, the Minister increased the number of rights
from 15 to 18 rights on appeal. The black controlled (more than 50 percent of
the shareholding held by black persons) ownership of the TAC is 42,5 percent
while the beneficial black ownership is 39,8 percent.
In the south coast rock lobster, the Minister increased the number of rights
from 12 to 17 on appeal. The black controlled ownership of the TAC is 74,93
percent while the beneficial black ownership is 56,97 percent.
In the hake deep-sea trawl sector on appeal the Minister increased the
number of rights from 46 to 52. A total of 15,49 percent of the TAC was
redistributed to the smaller companies that scored well in the transformation
and performance criteria. It was possible for the smaller companies to gain
tremendously on the allocation that they previously held. The black controlled
ownership of the TAC is 27,77 percent and the beneficial black ownership is
47,24 percent.
In the Hake Inshore Trawl sector, the smaller companies that scored well in
transformation and performance criteria gained 13,6 percent on the allocation
held previously. Black controlled ownership of the TAC is 46,3 percent, while
the beneficial black ownership is 46,16 percent.
In the small pelagics sector, the Minister allocated 19 fishing rights on
appeal, five of which were allocated to new entrant companies. The smaller
companies that scored well in the transformation and performance criteria
gained a massive increase of sardine and anchovy. The black controlled
ownership of the TAC is 61,6 percent for sardine and 60,7 percent for anchovy
and the beneficial black ownership of sardine is 58,39 percent and of anchovy
is 58,76 percent.
In the squid sector 13 fishing rights were granted on appeal. In this effort
controlled fishery mean black ownership of the squid sector is at 48,42
percent.
The Minister is currently considering appeals in the hake hand-line and
traditional line fish sectors and is expected to announce his decisions by the
end of August 2006.
The outcome of the appeals is available from Sunday, 13 August 2006, on the
following website: http://www.mcm-deat.gov.za
Letters informing the appellants of these decisions will start going out on
Monday, 14 August 2006.
Enquiries:
Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923
Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
13 August 2006
