About 85% of the companies licensed to longline fish for tuna in local waters have question marks against their fishing rights.
They include nine Korean ships operating in South Africa with local joint-venture partners, despite apparent evidence that they were granted quotas by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) on the basis of fraudulent documentation.
A few years ago, Japanese and Taiwanese fishing boats were sent packing from South African waters, in a move to build up the local industry.
There are just 12 rights holders in the fishery. One is Eagle Creek Investments 178, which, as the Mail & Guardian previously reported, is the subject of controversy because of its links to the empowerment network of the late Brett Kebble, and the circumstances under which its parent, the South Atlantic Fishing Company (Safco), acquired rights in the tuna and swordfish sectors.
Since June, the MCM has been investigating the veracity of letters purporting to be from the Korean government, which Korean vessel operators and their South African partners submitted in support of applications for local fishing rights. No action has yet been taken.
The M&G has copies of some of the relevant correspondence, which suggests that serious irregularities occurred.
Some Korean vessel operators have also been accused of violations of their permit conditions, including illegal shark finning, intimidating observers placed on board by the department, and using illegal fishing practices that can dramatically increase the mortality of seabirds.
A number of industry players say they believe the department is dragging its feet over cleaning up the sector, citing both an apparent lack of action on Safco’s failure to use its quota, and the slow progress of the investigation into the Korean-flagged vessels.
Some senior fisheries officials say Safco’s rights should already have been terminated under Section 28 of the Marine Living Resources Act because it has not complied with its permit conditions.
The controversy around Safco centres on whether MCM was rigorous enough in establishing whether the company’s plans to build new ships were adequate to satisfy regulatory requirements for “access to a suitable vessel” and whether the department bent its own strict licensing conditions after intense lobbying.
In the case of the Korean vessels, most of which are owned by the Dong Won group, the questions turn on the international agreements required before foreign vessels are allowed to fish here.
Foreign vessels are admitted to the tuna fishery because the South African fleet has limited expertise and capacity. To maintain its quota allocations from the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat), South Africa must demonstrate that it is catching fish.
The 2004 policy for the allocation and management of commercial rights in the fishery thus stipulates that foreign-flagged vessels can only be awarded a right if “the relevant flag state authorises in writing that all catches of large pelagics, whether harvested in South Africa’s [200km] economic exclusion zone or on the high, seas shall accrue to South Africa”.
The idea is that locals can learn the ropes by teaming up with Asian experts capable of getting top dollar for sashimi-quality fish, while a solid record of catches is built up.
A letter filed with the MCM by the vessel operators and purporting to come from Korean authorities says Korea has agreed to these terms. But according to a letter from the Korean embassy, of which the M&G has a copy, Korea granted permission only for catches inside the exclusion zone to be reported as South African.
This implies that the first letter is either incorrect or fraudulent, and the Korean-South African joint ventures should not have been granted rights.
“If there has been fraud, their rights must be revoked,” says Shaheen Moola, director of consulting firm Feike and a former chief director in the department, who helped lead the rights allocation.
Other sources sympathetic to the department say the slow progress is simply caused by a lack of capacity, and that the MCM is considering whether it has a solid enough case for criminal proceedings or whether it should simply cut allocations.
Don Lucas, who chairs the South African Tuna Longline Association and is a director of Combined Fishing, one of the joint venture companies, said the documentation was provided by a Korean agent who put the local companies in touch with the Koreans. “We received the documentation in good faith,” he insisted.
But he added that the association was concerned about the compliance record of the Korean captains, and the apparent lack of skills transfer taking place.
“The whole point of allowing the foreign vessels in was that we could build up skills, but it’s not really happening, which is why the Japanese were kicked out,” he argues. “We’ve asked the agent for answers, and they never really came back to us.
On the environmental front, there appears to have been some progress. Dave Japp, a director of Capricorn Fisheries, which provides observers to MCM on contract, said there had been considerable improvement in fishing practices aboard the Korean boats since the arrest of the Don Wong 630 in June for threatening and trying to bribe one of his employees, who was gathering evidence of illegal practices.
“They’ve realised they can’t get away with it, and they’re doing better now,” he said. A bigger concern is that environmental regulations generally are not working well in the sector, either on foreign or local boats.
“Bird mortality is a big, big problem, and the mitigation measures aren’t working. There is also a by-catch issue — they are getting lots of shark. These are management issues that are not under control.”
Long-term quota system in disarray
Delays in the finalisation of long-term fishing rights are pushing several fisheries towards crisis point, industry figures and government officials agree.
The West Coast rock-lobster season has already opened with vessels lying idle in harbours because the rights allocation process is months overdue.
Similar problems are expected in the small pelagics fishery and squid fishery. Even the capital-intensive deep-sea-hake trawl sector, the core of the local fishing industry, faces expensive delays, say industry executives.
Long-term hake rights were due to be announced on October 1 this year, but with a January 1 deadline looming, the first milestone — naming long-term rights holders and beginning to solicit further information before determining the size of their quotas — has not been passed.
The allocation process is led by Horst Kleinschmidt and Shaheen Moola, former officials of the Marine and Coastal Management who now own a consultancy.
They have proposed emergency measures for rock lobster and small pelagics which, Moola says, should stave off the immediate crisis.
“The idea is that a limited number of vessels would be granted a ministerial exemption, and allowed to fish. The catch would be marketed, and the proceeds ring-fenced in the marine living resources fund once costs have been deducted. When rights have been allocated, the funds would be distributed among rights holders on a pro-rata basis”.
This, Moola said, would allow local rock lobster to hold its reputation in international markets, and stop rival product from Mexico and elsewhere usurping its place.
Some in the industry say the proposals are unworkable, but the South African West Coast Rock Lobster Association chair Donald Grant says they are making progress on a “lifeboat” from Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk.
Moola says the delays are the consequence of an overwhelming number of applications, which the department is struggling to process. Established companies lay the blame squarely with reductions in the cost of applying for permits, which they say has resulted in a lottery-like rush for quotas. — Nic Dawes