The history of South African inland fisheries policy with governance recommendations for the democratic era

Peter Britz

doi:10.4314/wsa.v41i5.05

Abstract

The governance of South Africa’s inland fishery resources in the democratic era has lacked a guiding policy, supporting legislation and government capacity based on the social, economic and environmental objectives defined in constitutional legislation. This is ironic, as during the colonial and apartheid eras South Africa had developmentally orientated inland fishery policies with supporting institutions. An overview of the evolution of inland fishery policy in South Africa is provided, beginning with the comprehensive colonial policies to develop Inland Fisheries Divisions and recreational fisheries based on the introduction of alien species. Apartheid-era policies to promote commercial fisheries on dams in the Free State and small-scale fisheries in the former homelands are described. A policy shift in the 1980s saw the provincial nature conservation agencies move away from promoting inland fisheries based on alien species to conserving indigenous fish fauna. This effectively ended a century of state-supported inland fishery development, resulting in a decline in statesupported inland fishery institutions and a policy vacuum which has not been addressed in the democratic era. Customary and traditional small-scale fishing rights and practices have never been recognised in policy and governance arrangements resulting in the progressive marginalisation of these fisheries. The inclusion of the inland fishery mandate into the Fisheries Branch of the newly-formed Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2009 was a positive move opening the way for the re-establishment of institutional arrangements to promote equity and optimal socio-economic benefit from inland fisheries. The need for an inland fishery policy and institutional capacity aligned with democratic South Africa’s development objectives and environmental management policies is motivated. Policy objectives are recommended based on a characterisation of the potential of the inland fishery resource and its user groups, international norms for fishery governance, and consultations with public and private sector stakeholders on appropriate governance and institutional arrangements. Keywords : inland fisheries, fisheries policy, fisheries governance, recreational fisheries, small-scale fisheries

Highlights

South Africa’s rights-based Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) has guided the formulation of policy and legislation governing the use of the country’s natural resources in the democratic era, with rights to water, minerals, land, and marine fishery resources being subject to processes of restitution and reform to address apartheid-era inequalities
While the Marine Living Resources Act (Act 13 of 1998) guided marine fishery reform, the primary environmental acts governing inland aquatic resources are silent on inland fisheries, providing only generic principles for resource use flowing from the imperatives of the Constitution and international norms for environmental ‘good governance’
Recognising this knowledge gap, the Water Research Commission (WRC) funded a scoping study on the development and sustainable utilisation of inland fisheries in South Africa, which aimed to provide a knowledge base to inform the development of policy and institutional arrangements for inland fishery governance (Britz et al, 2015)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The FAO guides adopt a human-rights based approach to fisheries governance with clearly defined social and economic objectives, to address the legacies of disadvantage and marginalisation borne by poor fishing communities Recognising this knowledge gap, the Water Research Commission (WRC) funded a scoping study on the development and sustainable utilisation of inland fisheries in South Africa, which aimed to provide a knowledge base to inform the development of policy and institutional arrangements for inland fishery governance (Britz et al, 2015). National department staff will require training in inland fishery policy and governance, while provincial-level staff in the departments of agriculture, environmental affairs, and water affairs will require operational training in fisheries management, stakeholder-based co-management processes, and promoting a value chain approach to fishery development. Recreational fishing representatives are generally better educated and fully employed, but will require training in fishery governance processes in order to participate meaningfully in fishery co-management institutions

Funding needs

Findings

CONCLUSIONS