Millions of rands have been poured into an experimental abalone ranching project at Port Nolloth on the west coast — and the licence was awarded without tender. This is despite doubts whether the venture will ever become commercially viable as research has yet to be compiled and vetted.
The licence was given to Port Nolloth Sea Farms, headed by two former diamond divers, in early 1998 after support from the Northern Cape Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism in lobbying Marine and Coastal Management (formerly Sea Fisheries).
The Fisheries and Mari-culture Association, to which the company belongs and which is supporting the initiative, is partly funding its research and development through a British government grant via the province.
The parastatal Industrial Development Corporation has invested R3-million in the R10-million venture. And local businesspeople like African National Congress deputy mayor Dan Singh have contributed substantially.
Officials at the Cape Town-based Marine and Coastal Management confirmed there had been no tender process. Said one senior official: “[Port Nolloth Sea Farms] was given the licence because they had already made huge investment in capital and research. The whole idea was to put it out on tender. This hasn’t happened yet.”
Abalone — known as perlemoen in South Africa — is the most expensive marine animal and is at the heart of a multimillion-rand legal industry and crime syndicates organising poaching along the Cape south coast.
Depleted natural stocks have meant that Marine and Coastal Management has refused to permit abalone ranching in those areas because the natural and seeded animals are indistinguishable. However, Marine and Coastal Management hopes that if abalone ranching along the west coast is successful, it may be a solution to restocking other areas.
In Port Nolloth abalone is cultivated in tanks up to a specific size and then transplanted into the sea for further growth. In contrast to natural stocks, the ranched animals can be harvested when they are still undersized and marketed as “cocktail abalones”.
There seems to be some confusion regarding the 10-year permit, renewable each year. Marine and Coastal Management officials maintained that once commercial viability is established a tender will have to be put out, so everyone can bid for it.
But Port Nolloth Sea Farms managing director Dan Harvey insisted the experimental permit also allows the company to operate commercially. “We can take the abalone in and out and we are allowed to sell them. After 10 years we expect the OK [from authorities]. They can give 20 concessions. We would have the first choice. I’d like to believe they are not insane.”
Despite the self-confessed entrepreneurial spirit of Port Nolloth Sea Farms, it has emerged that the first large commercial seeding of 50 000 animals only happened earlier this month in only one spot of the kilometres-long concession. The survival rate of particularly the smaller abalones has not yet been proven.
The rate of unemployment in Port Nolloth, a tiny seaside village mostly dependent on diamond mining, already stands at between 70% and 80%. In the face of a bleak financial future as mine operations are winding down, the Northern Cape Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism hopes mari- culture will provide secure jobs.