Tsitsikamma fishing permits slammed

TOP MARINE scientists are shocked by the Department of Environmental Affairs’ decision to allow fishing in the Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area and have announced that they would be using the Public Access to Information Act to demand an explanation.

They say the department has ignored scientific data and put the country at risk of losing one of its most significant fish stock reserves.

After a yearlong public participation process the department announced in December that registration for permits to allow Tsitsikamma residents limited shore fishing in three designated zones of the Garden Route reserve could begin.

The group of marine experts called the Friends of Tsitsikamma says the department has made a mockery of the public participation process and ignored more than 700 submitted comments against opening the protected area to anglers.

They say that the decision to allow fishing “flies in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence backed by the majority of experienced marine scientists who supported maintaining the Tsitsikamma National Park as a no-take area”.

The park is Africa’s oldest marine protected area and was re-proclaimed as a no-take zone under the Marine Living Resources Act of 2000 to protect fish species found nowhere else in the world.

But since then fishermen from surrounding communities have pressured the department to reinstate their fishing rights, threatening the safety of tourists if their demands were not met.

Scientists have continued to fight against this move, saying the marine protected area was vital for the survival of many resident long-lived fish species as it provides an essential breeding ground.

They say if it wasn’t for the protection received,the survival of these species would be severely threatened.

Seventy-six anglers have registered for permits. But even with a maximum daily bag limit of 10 fish, over the monthly permitted four fishing days, more than 3 000 fish could be caught every month.

“We estimate that it will take between two and six months to fish down the resident fish populations to levels similar to those found outside the MPA,” says senior scientist at the Oceanographic Research Institute Bruce Mann.

“(Our) concerns remain the lack of up-to-date baseline data on the status of these species and the lack of a published monitoring plan and scientific fishery management plan,” says Professor Peter Britz of Rhodes Department of Ichthyology. – Conservation Action Trust