Where is the eco-friendly small scale fishing sector?

June 7, 2008

The traditional scale fishing sector in South Africa represents a potential for economic, social and environmental development that unfortunately seems to be largely unexploited. It is also a sector that has faced obstructions by the fishery legislation of the last decade, and as a result the scale fishers have been left high and dry without opportunities for development.

Scale fisheries - a resource, not a burden
Having worked with scale fisheries all over the world, we, representatives of four Danish organisations currently visiting South Africa, see enormous opportunities for significant improvements in the scale fishing sector and in the traditional fishing communities along the coast line.

This not only relates to the improvement of livelihoods through legal recognition of the traditional fishers, but also to the valuable contribution to economic development that the fishers could make as players on the market. Furthermore, the cultural, and traditional characteristics of the traditional fishing communities are assets that hold enormous potential, not least for the tourism industry, and should be treated as such.

In countries like Angola and Mozambique, governments already have specialised departments for the management of the scale fisheries. In these countries, it is acknowledged that the scale sector provides livelihoods opportunities and economic development in the coastal communities.

In Angola, for example, the government has implemented subsidy schemes for the scale sector, in order to improve food security and social coherence in the rural fishing communities. As such the fishing communities are treated as a resource instead of being marginalised and thus turned into a burden for the broader society.

Good for eco-tourism
When compared to the scale fisheries in other African countries and further abroad there is another striking feature that has been left more or less untouched. In general, the scale fisheries hold a competitive advantage over their industrial counterparts.

This advantage is closely related to the eco-friendly nature of the scale fisheries, which provide the fish products with an added market value. scale fisheries are characterised by having no or very limited by-catch because of the use of very selective fishing gear. In this eco-friendly fishery, fish and other marine animals that are either undersized or on the list of endangered species can be released immediately and survive.

By looking globally at fisheries, it is more than evident that the large-scale fishing industry is busy depleting the fish stocks-, and South Africa is no exemption. Valid explanations for this unfortunate course, certainly include the use of destructive fishing gear, high levels of by-catch and high-grading (throwing low value fish overboard), and expansion of the fishing fleets.

The added market value of fish products from the eco-friendly fisheries provides maybe the biggest opportunity for the scale sector. In South Africa as elsewhere in the world, the demand for eco-friendly products is steadily on the rise. Supermarket chains in several European countries have declared that they will only sell fish from eco-friendly fisheries in the near future, and in South Africa supermarkets, including Woolworth, seems to be moving in the same direction. One of the best examples of the added value of eco-friendly fish products is the UK based company, Fish 4 Ever, that sells a can of 120 grams of eco friendly Tuna for R50.00 as opposed to a conventional product that sells for approximately R7.

The added value is also attached to the social and cultural importance of the scale fishing sector. Increasing consumer awareness at the global level – e.g. in the EU, Brazil, Japan, and North America – is leading to higher demands for ethical products, and we have reasons to believe that the same trend is happening in South Africa. Based on these consumer trends, we are convinced that fish caught by traditional scale fishers, can be sold at a higher price, thereby assuring fishers of a decent payment. It is therefore encouraging to witness that a group of traditional fishers, with support from the Cederberg Municipality, is successfully establishing a locally based fish marketing company, which adheres to ethical values and sells fish caught by traditional scale fishers exclusively.

Not with standing the smelly part of a local fishery, the scale sector is also of great value to the tourist industry – a value that is only partially utilised. Tourist brochures and websites advertising for relaxing weekends and holidays along the coast line, are packed with colourful pictures of traditional fishers bringing today’s catch home. However, this potential could be explored much further. Many tourists have already seen the big five and are eager for different adventures, and this is exactly where the traditional fishers have something to offer. The future attractions could very well be a short fishing trip with a local traditional fisher, or the community’s catch of the day served at the harbour restaurant – instead of what today often consists of frozen fish caught by trawlers or purse seiners because the local fishers do not have the right to fish and sell their products as they choose. Tourists also look for cultural visits to fishing communities where they can engage in the traditional fishing craftmanship.

After visiting nine fishing communities in the Western Cape, we are disappointed to witness that the economic, social and environmental potential of the traditional scale fishing sector remains largely unexploited. It is quite frankly disturbing that almost 15 years after the abolishment of apartheid, South Africa has not yet managed to recognize and give real content to the rights of the traditional scale fishers, who are in many cases meaninglessly marginalized and even criminalized. Close to one thousand traditional fishers in the Western Cape today fish with an interim permit – a permit that expires on 15 April, after which the destiny of the fishers once again is uncertain. We have also heard that many traditional fishers in Eastern Cape do not even have an identity document, and thus cannot obtain any fishing permit. Similarly worrying is the situation in KwaZulu Natal, where the so called subsistence fishers are denied the right to sell their catches – on what government call a “commercial basis” - and thus they cannot gain an income to pay for school fees, medicine and so forth.

What seems like a crisis in fisheries management, in South Africa as elsewhere, is a clear result of decades of failures to manage fisheries sustainably. . Fish stocks have been declining, in many fisheries to levels where fishing is no longer a viable business, and marine habitats have been destroyed. A new management attempt to address this crisis, is the implementation of zones where fishing is not allowed, the popular Marine Protected Areas. In the January/Februry edition of the magazine Maritime Southern Africa, the head of Marine and Coastal Management writes that purse seine fishing is banned in a zone around Dassen island, in order to allow fish stock to recover and thereby improve conditions for the African penguins. Elsewhere along the coast, numerous Marine Protected Areas have been implemented over the years, and more are in the pipeline. The irony hereof is that MPA’s do not address the underlying cause of the crisis. MPA’s might be free from small and large fishing vessels – if it wasn’t for fishers being forced to sea in a desperate fight for food on the table - but the large scale fishing industry slowly and steadily continues business as usual.

Fortunately, our two week tour along the Western Cape coastline has also made us believe in a brighter future for fishing communities and the marine environment. Endless conversations with members of Coastal Links – a fishers movement in the Western Cape – has convinced us that the fishers themselves are in a process of bringing the value of the small scale fishing sector to the fore. Years of lobbying has paid out to the fishers in the form of an interim relief permit and a forthcoming fishing policy for the small scale sector. We believe that Coastal Links also holds the potential to brand the traditional small scale fishing sector for what it is: An eco-friendly fishery with no or very low levels of by-catch and with a prosperous culture we would love to visit again very soon.