More thought needed before MPA enforced
Although the decision to proclaim the area stretching from Coega to Cape Padrone as a marine protected area (MPA) was somewhat expected, the commercial and recreational fishing community did lodge objections to the overall scale of the proposed proclamation as the sheer size would cripple the recreational angling industry.
SANParks, together with the Addo Elephant National Park, was a major driving force behind this proposed MPA, and it will be placed under their control once proclaimed.
It is generally felt that the consultation process with all the affected stakeholders was one-sided, and that not much thought was given to the commercial and recreational stakeholders’ objections and concerns, and the overall negative impact that this would have.
As an example, the Port Elizabeth Deep Sea Angling Club (Pedsac), situated within the Port Elizabeth harbour, has in recent years adopted a rigid policy by measuring and releasing reef dwelling and endangered pelagic fish species such as kob, poenskop, miss lucy, geelbek and daggeraad at all its major bottom fish tournaments and club leagues.
This shift in policy was done in support of conservation and responsible angling practices.
Eastern Province Deep Sea Angling Association and Pedsac have established rigid development programmes with both our senior and junior anglers promoting conservation and marine protection initiatives.
The results are really starting to pay off, as can be seen in the strong shift towards catch and release angling by many anglers even when on recreational weekend outings.
The traditional fishing grounds fished from the Port Elizabeth harbour almost entirely fall within the proposed MPA and the closure of this area will undoubtedly more than double the fishing pressure on the Ryi Banks south-east from Port Elizabeth, as well as the Cape Recife to Maitlands area.
This will have dire consequences on the already pressured residential fish stock left in those areas.
When we initially studied the proposed MPA in 2015, it became clear that no viable fishing grounds east of Port Elizabeth would be left for anyone to fish.
We submitted our objections and counter-proposals based on the fact that the closure would cause unsustainable fishing pressure and over-exploitation of the already struggling Ryi Banks, Cape Recife and Noordhoek to Schoenmakerskop area.
These areas will be fished harder by the remaining commercial deck boats and recreational deep sea anglers operating from in and around Port Elizabeth due to this new massive MPA.
All major clubs and their angling members support the idea of establishing more MPAs, but we do stress that more thought should have been put into this process to ensure a well-balanced initiative that will provide our recreational anglers and other fishermen with reasonable access to some areas, while closing other areas for conservation within that geographic region.
This will ensure a healthy symbiosis between a sustainable pastime for recreational anglers, and protecting fish and marine life in the other areas within that same geographic marine area.
Our original counter-submission proposed enlarging the current Sardinia Bay MPA, as well as giving up the area stretching from Seaview to the Gamtoos River mouth, including the closure of the area between Jaheel Island to Black Bush 1 just past Sundays River for five miles out to sea.
This would protect many vital reefs as well as some kob holding and spawning areas.
We were also in favour of extending the current MPA northern boundary at Bird Island to the coast to protect the passage reefs and breeding areas of many reef species.
This would leave the recreational and commercial angler a few deeper fishable areas off Sundays River, as well as the stretch from Black Bush to the Bird Island MPA, and the Cape Padrone area.
This would ensure a more sensible spread of protected MPAs on both the eastern and western side of Port Elizabeth, while preventing a drastic and unsustainable increase of fishing pressure on the western side with the imminent declaration of the current proposed MPA.
The complete closure of the proposed area stretching from Coega to Cape Padrone will also see a definitive and consequential effect on recreational boat building and boat maintenance companies, bait and tackle suppliers, and other industries as they will definitely be affected, leading to further unemployment within the Port Elizabeth area.
This could also potentially affect the future of Pedsac and its full-time employees due to a consequential loss of membership brought on by the loss of accessible fishing grounds in close proximity to the club.
Port Elizabeth will lose the ability to host future interprovincial and national bottom fish tournaments as the remaining fishing grounds won’t deliver the class and quality of fish in large enough numbers needed to host such tournaments.
This would further deprive our local economy, with lost income derived from hotel accommodation and local spend by visiting teams, anglers and their families.
Our city fathers and the tourism industry actively promote Port Elizabeth as the water sports capital of SA in parallel with government initiatives driving the expansion of the marine economy on the one side.
On the other we are facing an imminent proclamation of a massive MPA that does exactly the opposite by affecting deep sea fishing as a water sport and thereby affecting financial benefits that this brings to the local marine economy.
There are better ways of protecting the penguins, their staple food source being exclusively made up of sardines and mackerel.
Closing off the area to recreational anglers who have become very responsible over the last few years won’t solve the problems.
A better working solution must be found to benefit both the angler and marine conservation efforts.
Richard Donaldson, chairman,
PE Deep Sea Angling Club.
When we initially studied the proposed MPA in 2015, it became clear that no viable fishing grounds east of Port Elizabeth would be left for anyone to fish