Ministry explains the West Coast Rock Lobster Total Allowable Catch and Effort reduction
Following the Department’s announcement of the Total Allowable Catch and Effort (TAC/E) for the West Coast Rock Lobster (WCRL) sector for the 2018/19 fishing season, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has been inundated with queries regarding reduction of the said TAC/E from the previous years.
The annual determination of the TAC/E is one of the regulatory tools to manage fisheries, in terms of Section 14 of the Marine Living Resources Act, Act No. 18 of 1998 (MLRA). In accordance with Section 14(2), the TAC/E must be apportioned among small-scale, recreational, local commercial and foreign fishing respectively. This function is currently performed by the Deputy Director-General: Fisheries Management as Delegated in terms of Section 79 of the MLRA .
During the 2017/18 fishing season, the TAC/E was determined at 1,924.08 tons. The TAC/E waschallenged by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the Western Cape High Court, on the grounds that it is unsustainable and its determination didn’t follow scientific advice. The High Court delivered a judgement on 26 September 2018, and declared the determination of the total allowable catch for WCRLfor the 2017/18 fishing season to be inconsistent with the Constitution as read with Section 2 of the National Environmental Management Act, Act No. 107 of 1998 and Section 2 of the MLRA and thus invalid.
For the 2018/19 fishing season, the TAC/E of 1,084 tons has been determined following consultations and recommendations by the scientific working group, which is a 43.6% reduction when compared to the TAC/E of 1,924.08 tons determined for the 2017/18 fishing season. The 2018/19 TAC/E is in line with the Court Judgement of September 2018, unfortunately, the Department’s hand has been forced to neglect other management objectives of the fisheries sector, which centres around addressing socio-economic challenges of the fishing communities, without undermining sustainability aspects of the resources, which is at the centre of the broad government’s agenda, and the Department’s implementation of ecosystem approach to fisheries management.
The WCRL resource is managed on the basis of a developed Operation Management Procedure (OPM), which is an agreed set of rules between scientists, managers, right holders and various stakeholders on recovery targets intended to rebuild the stock. It is important to understand and distinguished the rolesthat are played by these parties within their various respective Working Groups. The current reduced TAC/E of 1,084 tons and various effort limitations sets the resource on the recovery target path of 7% by 2025 in relation to the 2006 baseline biomass.
Over the years, various management options were implemented, trading off optimal resource recovery and maintaining some fishing activities with the intentions to ensure that there is a reduction on the socio-economic impact. The heart of Fisheries Management entails continuously finding a balance between all the conflicting priorities throughout the various fishing sectors, which is the mammoth responsibility delegated to the Deputy Director-General: Fisheries Management The high 2017/18 TAC/E was determined on the assumption that, illegal fishing will be reduced, consequently reducing effort on the resource. The current levels of illegal fishing influences the OMP, consequently determining the reduced TAC/E and robbing right holders and communities what could have been their income derived from the sector. It is important that communities and right holders in this sector report to the Minister any contravention of the provisions of the MLRA by any other person to ensure that we continue to remain on this recovery path. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is the greatest source of WCRL stock loss and has serious detrimental impacts on marine ecosystem and societies that derive benefits from the resource. Illegal harvesting of WCRL exert additional pressure on the resource that is already under pressure from legal fishing activities.A similar fate is also being faced by the abalone resource.
It should be noted that the fisheries sector is one of the least transformed economic sectors in the countrycomparatively. The Department is working tirelessly to drive this transformation process in a manner that is not disruptive to the competitiveness of the sector, but also ensuring that this transformation is as inclusive as possible. This is demonstrated by the recognition of previously marginalised small-scale fishers in South Africa through the amendment of the MLRA in 2014, where Government commenced with a small-scale fisheries program whose aim is to establish a new small-scale fishery throughout the coastal communities of South Africa. This initiative has seen over 10,000 individual traditional fishers being recognised as small-scale fishers for the first time in South Africa’s history. This, in essence, means that over 200 communities in the four coastal provinces will access marine resources legally for the purpose of participating in the ocean’s economy and for food security. During 2018, Government has allocated the first 15-year fishing rights to Port Nolloth and Honderklipbaai in the Northern Cape Province where a total of 103 individually recognised small-scale fishers have been assisted to register two co-operatives for the purpose of receiving economically sustainable 15-year fishing rights. This will benefit the broader communities of Northern Cape.
For 2019, the Government is in the process of finalising the allocation of 15-year fishing rights to 75 registered co-operatives comprised of 5,335 small-scale fishers in Eastern Cape; 45 registered co-operatives comprised of 2,184 small-scale fishers in KwaZulu-Natal and co-operatives which will comprise of over 2,500 small-scale fishers in Western Cape. Through this program, over 10,000 fishers and their families are being empowered and they will be in a position to sustain their livelihoods and further contribute the country’s economy. It should be our responsibility as the public sector and the private sector to support initiatives of this nature as they stimulate cohesion and the local economy in fishing communities and beyond. This is taking into account that the WCRL is one of the mainstay species of the small-scale sector.
The 2020 Fishing Rights Allocation Process (FRAP), which was started earlier in 2018, is already trying to address some of the transformation challenges that are facing the commercial fisheries sector in the country. In 2019, Government will consult widely on key proposals for allocating fishing rights in 2020, to further promote inclusivity, especially for the marginalised communities.
There is no doubt that over the past decade increased migration to coastal communities, coupled with a recognition that access to nearshore fish stocks such as lobster, abalone and line fish needs broadening, thus placing substantial pressure on nearshore fisheries. Government is devising stock recovery plans and plans to improve on monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) efforts, and the small-scale fisheries approach will also ensure better co-management of these resources.
Having mentioned all the above, both good and bad, with all opportunities and challenges ahead, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is aware of the challenges that the current determinedTAC/E cuts will have to the industry, specifically the fishing communities, and understand the plight of those affected communities.
This Minister is appealing the Western Cape Court Judgement, because Government understands that objectives of managing a fisheries sector it is more than just numbers and graphs. It is more diverse than a simple maximization of biological yield of the resource. The objectives often include consideration of foreign exchange, employment, contribution to disadvantaged rural areas and profits amongst other things and it is important that when fisheries are managed, the Department consider these. In conjunction to adhering to the provisions of the MLRA pertaining to sustainability, it is important that decision making in the determination of the TAC/E respect the provisions of the United Nations 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in taking management action based on the best available information, be it scientific, socio-ecological or socio-economic.
For further information contact:
Khaye Nkwanyana
E-mail: MLO.Minister@daff.gov.za
Cell: 083 952 9723
