/ 30 May 2005

Govt unveils policy on fishing rights

The government on Monday unveiled its final policy on the allocation of long-term marine fishing rights, despite trade-union calls for a moratorium on issuing it and threats of strike action.

The document’s release, which includes a timetable of the rights-allocation process, comes after a night in which a group of about 50 trade unionists and fishermen chained themselves to the gates of Parliament in protest against the policy.

Those involved have labelled the policy ”subtle genocide”, while the Food and Allied Workers’ Union has demanded a detailed impact study, and clarity on how it will address job creation and reduce poverty.

Briefing the media at his parliamentary office in Cape Town, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk appeared undeterred by the protest, complaints or strike threats, and determined to forge ahead.

”These policies have been widely consulted. They are good policies. They have been approved by Cabinet. We stand by every word … and if there are any legal challenges, we will meet them head on,” he said

His department has set aside ”a sizeable war chest” to deal with anticipated legal challenges.

The final policy is specific to 19 fisheries, and will guide the allocation of long-term rights, estimated to be worth about R70-billion, for periods of between eight and 15 years.

According to a timetable released at the briefing, the rights allocation process will start on June 13 this year and run until February next year.

Essentially, the process involves gazetting policies for each of the so-called ”clusters” into which the 19 fisheries have been grouped by the department, inviting applications and then deciding on these.

Once the rights-allocation process has been completed for a particular fishery, ”consultation” will start on the amount of fish each applicant may catch.

More details on clusters and finalisation dates are available on the department’s website from 1pm on Monday.

The 19 fisheries being looked at are all commercial fisheries, and do not include traditional line fishing. According to the department, this ”will be finalised over the next four weeks”.

Last week, the final policy was given the thumbs-up by the Cabinet, which said allocation of the rights will ”broaden the base” of participants in the industry.

On threats by certain trade unions to strike, Van Schalkwyk said ”strikes of this nature seldom achieve anything”.

”We want stability in this industry. We don’t just want to protect present jobs; we want to create more jobs. That is what our fishing policies would like to achieve.

”That is why we have consulted so widely. There has never been in the fishing industry, never before, such a widespread consultation process as we’ve seen now.”

The process has included 53 villages and towns, and more than 6 000 people.

Van Schalkwyk said some trade unionists who ”have suddenly become very vocal” had not been available when invited by the department to discuss the policies.

”And we’ve also not seen some of the vocal personae at our imbizos [meetings with communities]. There was ample opportunity to discuss these policies.

”There is no employer-employee relationship between ourselves and the unions, so if they want to strike, it’s surely something between themselves and their employers.” — Sapa