Question NW748 to the Minister of Environmental Affairs
06 April 2017 - NW748
Marais, Mr S to ask the Minister of Environmental Affairs
With reference to her Department’s presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs on 23 October 2015 that lion hunting had generated R125 million in 2012, R122 million in 2013 and contributed to job creation, (a) how does her Department calculate the amounts, (b) can the specified amounts be verified, (c) what is the total amount of income generated that goes to Government coffers, (d) how does the public benefit; and (e) can she provide concrete and comprehensive examples of sustainable job creation?
Reply:
(a) The Department multiplies the number of lion hunts by the average price for a lion.
(b) Yes. The number of hunts are derived from professional hunting registers that have to be completed by the professional hunter subsequent to each hunt, and submitted to the relevant provincial conservation authority. The average price for a lion is obtained from the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa that updates this information on an annual basis. The Department consolidates reports from provincial conservation departments relating to trophy hunting on an annual basis.
(c) This will vary between provinces. Provincial conservation departments determine whether a species fee is charged for a lion hunt based on their legal requirements and provincial treasury approval processes.
(d) Public benefits include income tax paid by beneficiaries in the sector; the creation of hunting opportunities for members of the public interested in hunting lion; job opportunities in rural areas where lion hunting takes place; value-added multipliers in terms of associated industries (taxidermy, fire-arms and ammunition, accommodation and tourism opportunities to name a few) that creates economic opportunities; and the use of the income generated through hunting to manage the habitat and area where lion occur, addressing one of the main threats to lions, namely habitat loss.
(e) The Department does not have information relating to the job creation due to lion hunting. It does, however, have information relating to the jobs created by the lion captive breeding industry, and since the majority of lions hunted in South Africa originate from captive breeding facilities, the information is relevant. Based on a study commissioned by the Department and conducted by the University of Free State in 2009, it was concluded that a total of 379 full time job opportunities (direct (225), indirect (49) and induced (105)) are created by the captive lion breeding industry. A recent study conducted by Tourism Research in Economic Environs and Society of the North-West University, regarding the economic significance of the private lion industry in South Africa; found that the lion farmers that participated in the study employ 369 people. The study concluded that an average farmer sustain 4 employees in the economy, and the extrapolated (number of farms 297) total number of 1 680 jobs are sustained in the economy due to lion breeding. This is mainly in rural provinces such as Free State and North West Provinces.
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