Fishing permission slated
MARINE scientists have slammed Environment Minister Edna Molewa’s recent rezoning of part of the historic Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (MPA) to allow for fishing.
Rhodes University’s icthyology and fish sciences department Professor Peter Britz said yesterday the announcement by Molewa disregarded science, the constitutional imperative that parks must be managed sustainably, and the public’s right to have input into the management of a public asset.
“When you ignore these things and rush it through like this, it just becomes a political move.”
The Tsitsikamma MPA, stretching 80km from Nature’s Valley to Storm’s River, was established in 1964 to protect 11 of South Africa’s 17 threatened fish species including red steenbras, dageraad and musselcracker.
The park has been hailed for stabilising the populations of these fish while elsewhere fishing pressure has increased.
However, Molewa announced on December 19 that three areas comprising 20% of the Tsitsikamma MPA, the oldest in Africa, had been rezoned to allow for “limited fishing”.
A number of conditions are attached to her notice in the Government Gazette including that fishermen must be members of “a Tsitsikamma community” and registered with the park, and each fisherman can only fish for four days a month.
Her announcement followed long-standing pressure from members of the Tsitsikamma community who argued that their traditional access to the coastline was unfairly stopped when the MPA was established in 1964.
Responding to this pressure a year ago, the department launched a “pilot” fishing initiative but this was successfully challenged by the Friends of Tsitsikamma – a group of senior marine scientists and conservationists including former SANParks CEO and architect of South Africa’s MPAs Dr Robbie Robinson – backed by a lengthy public petition.
Pressure continued to come from the community, however, including from Tsitsikamma Angling Forum member Henrico Bruiners who warned in February that “if the community do not get access to the sea they cannot guarantee the safety of tourists, especially those walking the Otter Trail”.