Abstract
The implementation of the Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998 which governs fisheries management in South Africa is guided by a series of objectives. Chief amongst these are the need to ensure resource sustainability, promote economic growth and achieve equity in the fishing industry. Striking a balance among these competing imperatives is a necessary but also monumental task, one which South Africa has arguably failed to achieve to date. In particular, as far the equity objective is concerned, a group of fishers, including both subsistence and artisanal fishers, have continued to be marginalised and overlooked in the fishing rights allocation process. The Policy for the Small-Scale Fisheries Sector in South Africa aims to provide recognition and redress to this sector of the fishing industry. It seeks to achieve this objective by adopting a community-based, co-management approach. The Policy accordingly envisages that fishing rights will be allocated to small-scale fishing communities and that these communities will become involved in managing fisheries together with government. This contribution reviews and critically analyses the scope of application of the Small-Scale Policy and the management approach adopted by the Policy, with a view to assessing its potential to achieve the objective of providing redress to the formerly marginalised groups of fishers. This analysis takes place against the backdrop of the significant resource constraints in the fisheries arena and the country’s vision for its future economic development as described in the National Development Plan.
Highlights
The Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998 governs fisheries management in South Africa. Embedded in this Act are a number of objectives which guide decision-making under the MLRA
Among these objectives is the need to ensure resource sustainability as well as the need to "restructure the fishing industry to address historical imbalances and achieve equity within all branches of the fishing industry".1. The latter objective has been described as one of the "foundational" objectives of the MLRA.[2]. It recognises that during the apartheid era the fishing industry represented a microcosm of the South African society and economy - fishing rights were principally held by white-owned entities to the exclusion of other demographic groups.[3]
Steps towards the implementation of the Small-Scale Policy have been initiated by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the form of the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill which, according to a notice published on 12 September 2013, is due to be tabled in parliament shortly.[8]
Summary
The Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998 (hereafter the MLRA) governs fisheries management in South Africa. Steps towards the implementation of the Small-Scale Policy have been initiated by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the form of the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill (the Bill) which, according to a notice published on 12 September 2013, is due to be tabled in parliament shortly.[8] The objective of this contribution is to review the scope of application of the Small-. What is evident from the above definition is that subsistence fishers are generally contrasted with those aiming to produce a tradable surplus (ie commercial enterprises).[18] This is a necessary distinction, as it is widely accepted that subsistence fishers and large-scale industrial operations should not compete within the same sector for access rights.[19] subsistence fishing potentially includes economic activities at a level exceeding the occasional sale or barter but which are aimed primarily at satisfying subsistence needs. 24 See in this regard the analysis presented in the following paragraph of this contribution
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