The Deputy Director-General (acting) for the Fisheries Branch of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Mr Desmond Stevens has harshly criticised as random, the decision by the WWF to downgrade the sustainable status of West Coast Rock Lobster (WCRL) from green to orange in May this year.
‘WCRL right holders and coastal community fishers feel prejudiced by this decision because well prior to the WWF’s decision to downgrade they and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had irrevocably committed themselves to a reduction of around 10% in the total allowable catch for WCRL for the next fishing season also accepting, potentially, further reductions in future fishing seasons,’ Steven said in a statement.
The department argues in a statement triggered by the WWF announcement that the sustainable status of the WCRL resource has consistently remained at around 3.5% pristine for the past three decades and nothing extreme or alarming has occurred in recent times to randomly threaten the present or future sustainability of this resource.
The department and the WCRL industry have also committed themselves to a resource recovery plan developed by our countries leading marine science academics in consultation with the WWF to rebuild the exploitable male component of the WCRL resource to 35% above its 2006 level by 2021.
WWF Marine Manager John Duncan’s recent assertion in the media that WWF “are pushing the minister to not only just talk about a recovery plan, but actually implement it” was slammed by the department as premature as the first phase of implementation of the recovery plan will in reality only commence in October when the new season starts and the total allowable catch for WCRL is, in accordance with the provisions of the WCRL recovery plan, reduced.
Stevens avers that there is no scientific evidence to support John Duncan’s claim that when considering the sustainable status of the WCRL resource “We are sitting at the edge of a cliff” or that people should “think twice” before eating WCRL.
"As the leading official responsible for the sustainable management of fisheries in South Africa I confirm that the Fisheries Branch of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries under the decisive leadership of Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, remains steadfastly committed to the continued sustainable utilisation and management of our national fishing resources. By instruction from Minister Joemat-Pettersson the department is in the process of gazetting regulations pertaining to the resource - that is how committed we are. Any notion to question that commitment is nothing but mischievous. We also welcome positive contributions that add value to the successful implementation of the Small Scale Fisheries Policy approved by Cabinet last year to free previously deprived coastal community fishers from the triple challenges of, poverty, financial inequality and unemployment in a rational manner”, said Stevens.
The Small Scale Fishing Policy was painstakingly developed in democratic collaboration with all social partners - business, community, labour and government - over the past several years at the National Economic Development and Labour Council. This policy was also extensively work-shopped in consultation with the WWF and provides a balanced structure for the allocation of fishing rights to a controllable smaller number of community-based legal entities in demarcated fishing areas as opposed to thousands of individual allocations across un-demarcated areas which are difficult to monitor and to appropriately enforce compliance.
"The claim by the likes of WWF that the department is “bulldozing the (Small Scale Fishing) policy without first ensuring that stocks are protected against poaching syndicates” is false and contrary to the provisions of the Small Scale Fishing Policy.
"An objective of the Small Scale Fishing Policy is to streamline all coastal community catch, processing and marketing activities to not only better address the issue of compliance but also to eliminate illicit marketing streams and ensure equity in the value chain for each verified coastal community fisher registered in a community-based legal entity.” concluded Stevens.
Enquiries:
Carol Moses
Tel: 021 402 3448
Cell: 072 198 1416
E-mail: CarolMO@daff.gov.za
