Tag Archives: fourth generation small-scale fisherman

I Am a Small-Scale Fisherman Fighting to Save the Coasts of South Africa

I am Christian Adams and I am a fourth generation small-scale fisher. I grew up in a small town called Mamre. My grandfather was a very successful fisherman during the 1960s and 70s. He provided employment for about 60 families. He had 28 rowboats and employed two people on each boat. During lobster season, they would go camp at a place called Bokbaai and they would fish about 60 tons of lobster per year. In 1972, when the Apartheid government was planning to build Atlantis, they interviewed him and he said: “The only thing that we need is a proper road, some electricity in the phone line. We do not ask for anything else, because we are already thriving in our business that we have here.” None of that was provided and the Apartheid government instructed him to stop fishing at Bokbaai. Photos, >click to read< 10:06