Protected area rezoned for fishing

ENVIRONMENTAL Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has approved the rezoning of the Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area to allow limited fishing by community members.

The new regulations grant permission for communities to fish 20% of the coastline in three areas of the marine protected area (MPA).

In January, a group of concerned citizens called the Friends of Tsitsikamma took legal action against the Department of Environmental Affairs‚ South African National Parks and the Tsitsikamma Angling Forum after the authorities opened four designated areas of the Tsitsikamma National Park to recreational shore fishing on December 15 last year.

The activists criticised the department’s pilot project‚ which they said gave an exclusive group of fishermen access to some 20% of South Africa’s oldest marine protected area without following due legal process. They won their case on January 8. In the department’s latest statement‚ it said the rezoning followed an extensive public participation process‚ including extended engagements with residents.

This included consideration of the socio-economic circumstances of the area concerned as well as the biological resources of the area.

It said the objectives of the rezoning included marine biodiversity conservation‚ as well as community benefits such as reasonable access to the MPA and its biological resources.

A registration process will be initiated by the park.