Tag Archives: small-scale fishers
Where to, struggling small-scale fishers? – “Fishing communities are in crisis”
Ousted from their homes in District 6 during the apartheid era, many of South Africa’s fishing families were re-located to places like Saldanha, Gansbaai and Kalk Bay to continue their craft. One such family were the Fortunes, now headed by Ishmael Fortune, a third generation fisherman,,, Up until 1994, quota systems regulated who got what, with expensive resources set as a condition on which allocation rights would be distributed. On September 1, 1998, the Marine Living Resources Act came into operation. Although having the right intentions, several contestable issues were highlighted, like a “balance between the rights of the individual rights-holder and those of the State.” >click to read< 12:27
South Africa – Disgruntled small scale fishermen, ‘Suspend lobster fishing rights allocation process immediately’
Police were called to maintain order when a group of disgruntled fishers stormed the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries offices on the Foreshore yesterday. They were demanding the immediate suspension of the West Coast rock Llobster fishing rights allocation process. They want the West Coast rock lobster offshore allocations shifted from big companies to near shore and small scale fishers. click here to watch video, read the story 11:19
Why Hout Bay fishermen die trying to make a living
On Friday August 7, four men sat around a table in Hangberg, Hout Bay, watching the harbour and waiting for the body to arrive. Two of the men were drinking beer out of small glasses and smoking cigarettes, flicking the ash into an empty abalone shell. Ralph Warner, a 56-year-old Hangberg skipper, stood next to Josephs, who is also a fisherman, and lit another cigarette. “They call us small-scale fishers but we’re dying on a large scale,” he said. Read the rest here 08:51
