Small-scale commercial fisheries challenges: DAFF briefing, with Minister present

Meeting report

Opening Remarks
The Chairperson welcomed everyone. She apologised to the Minister for the delay and explained that the Committee was still waiting for one member in order to quorate the meeting.

The Chairperson stated that the purpose of the meeting is for the Committee to receive a briefing from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) on the on-going challenges experienced by the Department in developing small-scale commercial fisheries with a focus on quotas, abalone poaching, dwindling west coast rock lobster numbers and unhappiness about the number of cooperatives earmarked.

Opening Remarks by Minister
Mr Senzeni Zokwana, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, thanked the Chairperson for the opportunity. The Department would present a report on small-scale fisheries and what the implications of the proposed amendments would be if they are adhered to. The report will be presented by the team.

Briefing by DAFF
Mr Asanda Njobeni, Chief Director: Marine Resources Management, DAFF, said the presentation will focus on Small-Scale Fishery Challenges & Solutions; Quotas; Abalone Poaching; and Reduction in West Coast Rock Lobster Abundance.

Mr Njobeni said the Directorate for Small-Scale Fisheries is responsible for the management and development of small-scale fisheries in South Africa. However, there is currently not enough staff capacity to fully implement the policy. The Department is looking at viable alternatives including entering into partnership with public and private entities and coastal communities; appointment of interns; contract workers and use of officials from other sections; and appointment of service providers.

On limited wild fish stocks, the appointment of meaningful quantities of marine resources in all of the identified 316 coastal communities is proving very difficult due to limited and, in some cases, severely depleted standing wild fish population at sea, particularly in the near shore areas. Determination of what resources would be available for the small-scale fishery sector, “Basket of species” whilst still rolling out the 2015 Fisheries Rights Allocation Process (FRAP) added to the above-mentioned challenge. As part of the solution, there will be rapid finalisation of both the small scale fisheries rights allocation and FRAP, including the appeal processes thereof would enable clear and more informed decision making with respect; and timeous communication to stakeholders is vital too.

Mr Njobeni said in terms of the delays in KwaZulu-Natal, this was caused because DAFF had to terminate the contract with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife in 2015. An open tender process would need to be followed to appoint a new service provider for KZN. In the short term, the Department will appoint competent service providers and in the long term, it will build internal capacity and establish a permanent DAFF presence in KZN.

With regards to the DAFF communication and training of co-operatives, the media consultant contract expired in October 2016. There is no formal communication strategy as yet. To address this, a new service provider will only be appointed in following financial year (2017/18).

Mr Njobeni said some of the issues that triggered protest action by communities regarding implementation process include the following:
-Limited marine resources allocated
-Lack of adequate understanding of the Equality Court order of 2007 and the Objects of the SSF Policy by some community members
-Need for internal cohesion and focus with respect to stakeholder engagement
-Communities regularly confuse Interim Relief with the Small-Scale Fisheries sector
-General unhappiness with the provisional lists of successful fishers, which is perceived to exclude many deserving fishers
-Duration of small-scale fishing right of only three years considered too short
-Small-scale fisher criteria (particularly min. age of 18 years and 10 years fishing experience)
-Unsuccessful applicants refusing to complete appeals
-High levels of frustration – implementation process too long
-Some people are advocating small-scale fishing rights to be granted to individuals or multiple co-operatives in a community, which is contrary to the small-scale fisheries policy.

In terms of a solution, the Department needs to proactively communicate progress with respect to the implementation of the policy and must not deviate from the legal process that is prescribed for the implementation of the small-scale fisheries policy. Also community members are encouraged to submit appeals and provide further information should they feel that they meet the SSF criteria.

Mr Njobeni said with regard to community engagements, currently there is no media consultant appointed to disseminate “real time” information. The process is impeded by protest action and threats of violence, and conflict within communities. There is exploitation of community members by people from within communities and marketers. The community representatives and associations generally are not relaying information to communities or provide incorrect information. Community engagements generally are slow due to language challenges, literacy levels of communities, and lack of understanding of process and confusing DAFF statements. Solution: the directorate small-scale fisheries management requires more staff capacity and the appointment of a media consultant is critical.

In terms of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) the communities are not adequately consulted with reporting the proposed MPAs by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). The proposed near shore MPAs would have a serious negative impact for a number of communities particularly in Eastern Cape and KZN. There were divergent mandates: Isimangaliso Authority’s core mandate is to protect the World Heritage status of the Isimangaliso Wetland Park, while DAFF is seeking to develop small-scale fisheries for communities in the Park. These two mandates would need to be harmonized. Solution: DAFF to continue engaging with conservation agencies on the impacts of MPAs on communities. DEA to ensure proper consultation with affected communities.

Mr Njobeni said in terms of abalone poaching the abundance of abalone has declined further between 2015 and 2016, continuing the trend of resource deterioration over the past 20 years. The primary contributor to the over-catches, which have in turn led to the decline in the resource, is illegal harvesting. In 2016 it was estimated that poaching overall is now 6 times higher than it was when the abalone fishery was re-opened in 2009. The scale of the illegal harvesting means that abalone is removed much faster than they can replenish themselves. Model-based projections show that if the current level of poaching continues, the abalone resource will continue to decline, and a collapse of the resource is inevitable. This situation severely compromises the potential for legitimate fishing, especially as the Department is legally bound by the Marine Living Resources Act to allocate fishing quotas which are sustainable. Investigations indicate that there appear to have been some gains made, and poaching appears to have shown some stabilization on the West Coast, including Robben Island (Zones E-F). Investigations further show that DAFF compliance effort has been stepped up since the re-opening of the abalone fishery in 2009. However, even this increased effort has not been able to keep up with the extreme pace of the increase in poaching.
In terms of the operational area the Monitoring Control & Surveillance (MCS) is deployed to cover a 3200 kilometre coast line between Punta De Oro and Alexandra Bay including the 200 Nautical Miles of South Africa’s Exclusive Economic Zone. There are currently 243 Officials to protect, not only Abalone, but all Fisheries sectors.

The main challenges in abalone poaching include: Inadequate Resources, especially personnel and funds; Inability to fill the vacant posts since they have become unfunded; Inadequate training of Fisheries Control Officers (Law enforcement Officers); Socio-economic conditions including lucrative illegal market of Abalone in the Far East; Hostile Communities especially areas like Hawston and Paternoster; The Overberg region in the Western Cape is an identified hotspot for illegal marine activities that are linked to drug trafficking, money laundering, and run by organised crime syndicates; and Inadequate anti-poaching communication strategy.
The solution for this poaching problem is to improve awareness to bring about a mind-set change against the plundering of vulnerable inshore marine resources and to secure community buy-in for the sustainable utilization of marine resources. Other solutions include:
-Collaborate with other enforcement agencies in dealing with organised crime syndicates and in addressing corruption amongst MCS officials.
-Re-enforce training of the Fisheries Control Officers in order to improve efficiency of the Fisheries Control Officers.
-Work collaboratively with the other law enforcement agencies through Operation Phakisa Oceans Economy. Explore and incorporate technological strategies to enhance protection of Abalone and all marine living resources.
-Work closely with the relevant domestic and international stakeholders in eradicating the Abalone and Lobster illegal market in the Far East.

Mr Njobeni concluded that since 1997, scientific recommendations for TACs for the West Coast Rock Lobster resource have been based on Operational Management Procedures (OMPs). These calculate recommendations each year in a manner that incorporates updated information from resource monitoring data according to formulae pre-agreed by scientists, managers and stakeholders and adopted by the Branch Fisheries Management as the accepted management basis for that fishery.

The biomass of male West Coast Rock Lobster above the 75 mm CL minimum size limit (B75m) has recently been at about 2.5% of the pristine level. The need to rebuild this resource has been recognized and incorporated in all OMPs used to provide TAC recommendations.
This year’s updated assessments together with a re-appraisal of estimates of the extent of and trends in poaching were conducted as part of the standard process of monitoring the performance and continued appropriateness of the OMP. The assessments showed results for resource status that were appreciably worse than anticipated, particularly for Super-area A8+ (the Cape Peninsula area extending to east of Hangklip). The revised estimates of poaching led to even greater concern, with best estimates suggesting a doubling over the past three years.
Poaching is considered one of the major contributors to the currently depleted status of the resource, and extended access to the resource over a lengthy season (7-8 months) exacerbates the potential for poaching by all sectors.

Discussion
Mr J Parkies (Free State, ANC) appreciated and welcomed the presentation from the Department. He noted that on page 10 of the report under abalone poaching there are challenges where the Department has identified inadequate resources, especially personnel and funds. And since this has a negative impact in terms of the working of the Department it would have been proper to put it across financial years even if it is not full blown, for example, by stating that by 2018/19 it would have employed 5% or 10% of the staff it needs.

Mr Parkies asked how many small-scale fisheries have been allocated to catch abalone, how does the Department justify that 30 commercial operators that were allocated rights and all small-scale fisheries requests will be accepted for KZN cooperatives in terms of page 8 of the report. How many of the 47 commercial pickers are allocated against the 9 pickers that are available for small-scale fisheries?

Mr Parkies asked the Department to justify what it meant on page 4 of the report where it talked about new service provider which will be appointed to deal with media communication strategy, what the costs implications are of that, and how long the duration the contract of that particular service provider will be.

Mr Parkies asked for an explanation for a statement on page 5 where it is stated that some people are advocating small-scale fishing rights to be granted to individuals or multiple cooperatives in a community, which is contrary to the small-scale fisheries policy. He further asked if it is not excluding new entrants of small-scale fisheries when the Department asked for 10 years experience and minimum of 18 years old to enter the industry. Lastly, he asked what the Department’s potential partners mentioned in slide 3 of the report, are they white or black?

Mr C Smit (Limpopo, DA) said that having new entrants into an industry which is already suffering a problem of reduced stocks could be a concern. He asked the Department if there is a contingency plan which focuses beyond the fishing rights to make sure that communities are sustained and industry transformed for the new entrants.

Mr Smit said that communities were also having a problem of not knowing which species they are allocated and the limit per species because that is part of the determining success of the cooperative being able to determine what is economically viable for that specific operation. There is also a feeling of undemocratic consultative process between the Department and the SSF communities where communities feel they did not have enough say in the allocation of species. How would the Department address that concern?

Mr Smit said the other problem is that the SSF policy is centred on cooperatives as a form of entity that is acknowledged because the success of a cooperative is also determined by capacity of that community, whether there is financial knowledge, accounting knowledge and so forth. There is a feeling that the state support is not up to scratch to assist and capacitate communities in this regard because communities are poor and literacy levels are very low. Another challenge in cooperatives is that certain individuals who assume leadership in a cooperative, control access to the fishing rights and end up selling those rights to big fishing companies. What was the Department doing to counter this phenomenon of fronting because it is totally unacceptable?

Ms Z Ncitha (Eastern Cape, ANC) asked in terms of limited wild fish stock what the plan is to monitor those who over fish.

Ms Ncitha asked if there is a way the Department could work with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) to develop a communication strategy for the Department because dissemination of information between the Department and communities is very important.

Mr A Singh (KwaZulu-Natal, ANC) asked when the Department will appoint a new service provider to monitor the KZN coast or negotiate with the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife whose contract was terminated in 2015 to monitor the KZN coast meanwhile a new service provider is still outsourced.
Mr Singh asked what plans the Department has to kick start the training of small-scale fisheries

Mr L Gaehler (Eastern Cape, UDM) welcomed the presentation. He asked for clarity with regard to the line fish which is 98% commercial and 2% for small-scale fisheries as indicated on page 7 of the report.

Mr Gaehler asked what the breeding plans are since there is a decline in wild fish stock.

The Chairperson asked how the Department will ensure that black people get fishing rights. Is there a plan to review the allocation system taking some of the rights from big fishing companies so as to benefit black people who are new entrants in this industry?

The Chairperson asked if there are other mechanisms that could be put in place to ensure security in the sea because this issue is a big concern for the sustainability of the ocean economy.

The Minister replied that he will answer some of the questions and give others to the officials. In terms of the last question, one of the reasons the Department ends up in court is because of its efforts to promote transformation. The companies that are transforming are given sizable quotas because they had more people who are on board who are new entrants. And companies that have not shown that initiative took them to court. The Department began to engage a number of companies with regards to transformation. They are using two things, carrot and stick to apply the rules. For company A, since it has shown that it is improving in terms of new entrants and they do not speak of paper quotas like people who get a paper quota to fish for another. They want real transformation which is what they are doing, and that is why they end up in courts. On the other hand, the Department believes the Marine Living Resources Act needs to be amended in as far it allows a foreign vessel to partner with new entrants because currently if one acquires a quota for deep sea one has to request a company that will say it will give you the space but once you get the quota it will fish for you. But when they speak of partnering with the private sector as a Department they believe that these companies should forfeit some of the rights and allocate them to local people. The Department was busy with that debate.

The Minister said breeding can be improved through hatcheries. Hatcheries could be done in terms of aquaculture as a space and this was already being done. But the pace is slow because of the high costs involved in this process. There are plans and the Department can be requested to come and present on aquaculture as a specific item so as to indicate how many aquaculture farms have been created with the aim of augmenting the depleted fish species with the fish that is farmed.

Mr Craig Smith, Director: Small-scale Fish Management, DAFF, explained that the development of the criteria was done in a consultative process with many communities. It was something the Department did through NEDLAC with the involvement of communities in terms of determining what criteria to allow participants to enter into small-scale fishing sector. And it was through those views that the criteria was brought into policy and subsequently brought into law. It was not done to exclude people but rather to recognise who are the traditional fishers within a coastal community because not all people living in coastal communities are necessarily fishers.

Mr Smith clarified that the Department had appointed a media consultant for two periods leading up the implementation of small-scale fisheries. The media consultant was deemed necessary due to the complexity of dealing with people who spoke multiple languages and lived in remote areas. Therefore, this required a very detailed way of actually getting information to the ground to the people so that they could meaningfully participate in the Department’s process. In that sense the Department had a media consultant and used different media platforms in order to gets the message across to people including local newspapers, local radios, dedicated website, social media, and SMS bundles. But unfortunately, the contract of the media consultant has expired and for the last six months there was no media consultant. The Department intended to appoint a media consultant in the new financial year when funds are again available so that they could take this process forward. The work of the media consultant cost the Department just under a million Rand which was much cheaper compared to the GCIS.

Mr Smith said in terms of filling vacancies, there was a definite need for warm bodies particular in critical strategic positions. But currently there was not enough budgets to fill some of the critical posts and the request for funds up to this point have been denied.

Mr Smith said in order to make small-scale fisheries a success the Department will need people with experience to come on board to offer training and capacitating throughout the value chain in terms of processing and marketing the fish. This point also speak about how to run a business because a cooperative is a business model, and many have not been exposed about how to  run a cooperative and would not know the roles and responsibilities, and needs of the members of that particular cooperative. But in preparation for the small-scale fishing sector the Department already started to embark with potential partners who it thinks will play a vital role in assisting in various avenues of the value chain, processing, marketing as well as capacitating the fishers. For example, those potential partners include other organs of state, whether local, provincial or national departments. They’ve already spoken to a number of them like the South African Safety Marine Authority; NGO’s focusing on small-scale fishers; Old Mutual; Sanlam; Woolworths; etc. Therefore, the end goal is to see what potential partners can do to assist and uplift the small-scale fishers and fishing communities.

Mr Smith said, on which fish species will be allocated and how much, that is still a bone of contention because the Department still has to get to a point where it will know for certain how much will be available. There are so much wildlife fish available and it is only a certain number that can be moved to ensure sustainability is secured. There is a commercial sector fishing the same resources in some cases apportionment should be considered.

Mr Smith said, with regards to the undemocratic consultation process in the allocation of fish species, that of late there have been a number of complaints fishers wanting to know what they will be receiving. There is still lots of work to be done in terms of understanding how much can be allocated in the fishing sector. From the sector point of view, there should be further allocation to the communities because at this point in time there were 316 communities that provisionally could be possibly earmarked as small-scale fishing communities. Therefore, the Department needs to take whatever allocation made for the sector and see how it can divide that allocation amongst those communities.

Mr Smith admitted that there is a problem with paper quotas, fronting and selling of rights. But the selling of rights needs to follow a legal process. The Department needs to be informed of any transfer of rights so that it should follow a section 21 process under the Marine Resources Act to be approved by the Department. If those transfers are taking place the legal process should be followed. There is a criteria that follows the process to ensure that in the transfer the transformation is maintained which is the key imperative in the selling of those rights. Fronting is also a problem as well as paper quota holding. In terms of the latter, if the Department is aware of paper quota holdings they are investigated, and in terms of the new rights allocation people that are paper rights holders are deemed not to fish efficiently to the charge of having their rights removed or revoked or in terms of being not successful in the new round of rights allocation process.

In terms of people who over fish, the Department applies a payback policy like in the mining industry where a portion of your quota will have a reduction of the same amount. But in severe cases that could follow a section 28 process where the Department will revoke the rights as well as impose criminal proceedings. Therefore, the Department has both options at its disposal and sometimes it has used both options simultaneously.

Mr Smith said in terms of working with the GCIS to develop a communication strategy as already stated hat will be more costly because GCIS may not be appropriate in terms of costing. Also, the media consultant needs to work on the ground and do the work as an extension of the Department.

The Department terminated the contract with Ezemvelo in 2015. They were replaced with another company called Amagazi, which was appointed in March 2016. The company is still appointed but through the Portfolio Committee the Department has een instructed to terminate the appointment of Amagazi Company, and the Department must find an alternative company to replace Amagazi in KZN.

Mr Smith said with regard to the training of cooperatives that the new media consultant would be responsible for developing the training material because this was not just a simple exercise of taking a cooperative through it. It actually needs to be tailor made taking communities through it taking into account the issue of languages and the literacy levels of people are not the highest. Therefore, the Department will have to simplify things as much as possible.

Mr Smith said on the issue of access for small-scale fisheries the Department is embarking on the registration of small-scale fisheries and once registration is done they will establish them into cooperatives. What is outstanding is how much each cooperative will receive and will go to a grant letter process informing the Department what fish species they will like to target, for what purpose and what quantities they were considering. Then the Department has to assess that and based on grants letters quotas will be issued to those cooperatives and communities. The quotas will inform cooperatives what then they will receive in terms of their small-scale fishing rights.

Mr Smith agreed that the Department did not have enough law enforcement officers but it is working very closely with other enforcement agencies to boost the limited capacity they have in the Department.

Mr Parkies asked who allocates to these small-scale fisheries and what species they have the right to capture.

Mr Parkies asked when a gradual filling of strategic posts will be done.

The Minister replied that an impression should not be left that the Department believed in outsourcing. However, he believed that the only people that could offer the best service are the outsourced ones. The Department was dealing with a situation where it has a historical backlog in terms of good staffing in communication hence the use of a media consultancy. But they will take this issue up and when they find a space they will fill the posts and the issue of localised communication can be dealt with. But the answer was to deal with what is happening now.

The Minister said the debate should be informed by what made the situation worse in most fishing communities where major fishing companies have closed their processing plants because more jobs are not created in fishing, instead more jobs are created in the processing phase of fishing. The Department was currently engaging three of the biggest fishing companies with a view to get them back to those communities to make sure that they participate in the building up of small-scale fishers. That work is going to be difficult given the Department’s depleted resources - both financial and human resources.

One of the things the Committee should be aware of is that there has been lot of exploitation by many companies, the example of that is the rock lobster in the Eastern Cape. Communities will use all forms of equipment to fish with but when they caught that lobster it will be bought for R20 or R90 as a set price. And the same lobster will be sold for R500 without any major costs in terms of resource development. Those small-scale fishermen knew the methods of fishing but what is needed is to improve those methods because the have been working there for most of their lives.

The Minister said the aim is for cooperatives to be involved in processing of the fish as this has many spin offs in terms of job creation. This can be done but will require funding and buy-in from the private sector. The Department must make sure there are cold storages and processing plants in communities so that people can store and process their own fish. The Department has taken into account some of these issues and through partnership with the private sector it will be able train people so that at the end they are able to sustain themselves in terms of cooperatives.

The Chairperson thanked the Minister and his delegation for the presentation and answers they gave to the Committee. The challenges can be overcome through dialogue and partnerships forged between the Department and the relevant stakeholders. The issue of communication between the Department and fishing communities is very important and needs to be strengthened so that communities did not feel neglected. The Committee is looking forward to engage and have robust discussions with the Department so that all the issues of transformation in the fishing industry are addressed.

The meeting was adjourned.