Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on transformation in Fishing sector

DAFF remains fully committed to transformation in the Fishing sector

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries respect the right to legal protest.

The DAFF would like to reiterate its objectives which underpin its plans, projects and programmes in the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors. These are:

• Ensuring food security for all;
• Creating jobs;
• Increasing contribution to gross domestic product .

In addition to this the transformation of the fishing sector which includes the implementation of the small-scale fishing policy remains a key focus area in the fishing sector.

The Marine Living Resources Act was amended to recognise small-scale fishing as a sector within the fishing industry of South Africa. To this end, the small-scale fishing regulations with the entire legal framework have been approved and are being implemented in the four coastal provinces.  The small-scale fishing sector will directly benefit approximately 30 000 people from coastal communities and is expected to transform the entire fishing industry. This new sector is designed to address food security needs within the local community, and will allow fishers to derive maximum benefit through value-adding of products and accessing markets.

The fisheries sector is an important element of the Oceans Economy Strategy. The department will continue to advocate for responsible management of the marine resources.  This will be supported by extensive research on the declining marine stock. DAFF in collaboration with the industry will accelerate growth in the sector to meet the aspirations of increasing  the  aquaculture sector  five-fold to 20  000  tons  annual  production, thereby  creating  15  000  jobs  and contributing R3 billion to the GDP by 2019.

It is regrettable that The Collective, a group who has met with both the department and Minister and undertook certain decisions, has decided to embark on a protest action in spite of the agreements made. The rights allocation process remains a legal process which is informed by legislation, regulations and policies and a process which has been hailed as transparent and legally sound.

The request for an urgent meeting was held with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (the Department) after various fishing and community organisations took a resolution to work together and streamline issues that they would like the department to address. The various groups that have decided to streamline and work as a collective are referred to as “The Collective”. It was agreed that all the organisations that form part of The Collective must start a process of being properly recognised in terms of the MLRA for the purpose of ensuring that future engagements are properly constituted.

It was resolved that the department will consider the request to extend the appeals process and avail assistance to people who require assistance on appealing for WCRL nearshore. On 4 October 2017 the Department issued a media statement indicating that closing of appeals in the west coast rock lobster neashore has been extended. The closing for submission of appeals is 17 November 2017. The department is currently providing assistance to the applicants in various communities. In this regard the Department is visiting and providing support in the following areas:

It was further stressed that the allocations is a legal process and thus could not be interrupted. The meeting held on Monday, 16 October 2017 which was the 4th meeting between the Department and The Collective, was attended by eleven representatives of The Collective and four senior officials of the Department. The meeting discussions were conducted in a respectful manner and were closed by the chairperson and adjourned at 14:50.

The Department remains open to dialogue with stakeholders as it has always been.

For further information please contact:
Carol Moses
Cell: 0712298484
E-mail: CarolMO@daff.gov.za
Tel: 021 4023448