“We were heard. The minister did good work. There is no way that we cannot applaud this procedure.”
If you had asked just about any fisher for their opinion on the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE) process of awarding small-scale fishing rights a few years ago, chances are a very different answer would have been given. However, as Bridgitte Oppelt, chair of Mitchell’s Plain Fishing Forum, states above, this time around, the department got it right.
In August last year, the Western Cape High Court set aside the 2016-2019 process of awarding small-scale fishing rights in the province.
The Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy had approached the High Court for a review of the process after an internal audit concluded that the previous verification process was “wholly inadequate”, and that the “results of these assessments cannot and should not be relied on for any decision-making purpose in terms of the regulations”.
The setting aside of the initial process meant that the DFFE was required to re-run the process in a “fair and transparent manner”.
On Thursday 16 March, DFFE announced the final list of declared small-scale fishers in the Western Cape.
Out of over 4 000 verification forms submitted, over 84% of applicants were declared successful. Going forward, they will be recognised as small-scale fishers in line with the Marine Living Resources Act. Of these recognised small-scale fishers, more than 30% are women, 68% are coloured, 25% are black and three percent are white.
In the previous process, only 31% had been successful.
DFFE spokesperson Albi Modise says the improved success rate is the result of a new approach and improved transparency in the process “which saw improved collaboration with communities and the provision of clear messages to fisher communities”.
“Some of the measures put in place included consultation with community-based organisations and community mobilisation; simplifying and translating verification forms and guiding documents and visiting the qualifying communities to distribute and explain verification forms in local languages,” says Modise.
It also included providing communities more than two months to complete their verification forms with the assistance of the department and community-based organisations and the establishment of a verification forms assessment protocol and consistency.
Faez Poggenpoel, an executive member of the Kalk Bay United Small-scale Fishers Association and a representative of the Interim relief/Small-Scale Kalk Bay Fishing community, says the process set a new standard for information sharing. He describes the measures taken to accommodate fishers as previously “unheard” of.
“There was meaningful stakeholder engagement. Everything was painstakingly explained. When it came to the distribution of verifications forms, they were clear and provided well in advance. The department went out of its way to give information and to give fishers adequate time to redo their verification.
“The minister understood that they needed time. Most fishers are not administratively inclined; the verification forms were facts-driven, supporting documents-driven.”
When requests were made for an extra deadline extension, Poggenpoel says the minister obliged, and when suitable centralised locations for form distribution could not be found in communities, the department would go, deliver and collect.
Fishers were also allowed to submit their forms at any drop-off location, whether located in or outside of the fishing community they were applying for.
He says the verification forms were also good at weeding out “chancers”.
“The verification was really robust in identifying none fishers. You are going to get chancers, but this process, in terms of asking for proof of dependents and so on, prevented those who were earning income elsewhere from slipping through. The forms did their job in that aspect.”
He adds that, from the get-go and throughout the process, there was a tip-off line where fishers could report those who were on the list but did not meet the criteria.
Another layer that the process addressed, he says, is “so-called poachers”.
“A lot of them are now successful small-scale fishers. The success of incorporating and legitimising them as small-scale fishers – which they are – is brilliant, and will go a massive way towards research management and uplifting the community in a meaningful way.”
DFFE is in the process of assisting small-scale fishing communities to register co-operatives that will be eligible to be allocated 15-year fishing rights before October.
Oppelt says the fishers are eager and ready for the co-ops to be rolled out. She says there is a clause in the small-scale policy that will allow those who have worked in a co-op for two years to apply for fishing rights.
“So even if you didn’t get fishing rights this time, you can apply in two years. Things have been done perfectly. This time, we are the policy writers. I was one of the people who helped write the small-scale policy – it is not flawed. It is perfect for small-scale fishers,” says Oppelt.
Poggenpoel says communities are positive and hopeful.
“There is some sadness that some fishers from former generations who are now deceased will not be able to be part of this process.”
While co-ops proved unsuccessful in the past, Poggenpoel says there will be more eyes watching.
“No one can compare this co-op to those from the past. The co-ops of before had lots of grey areas to operate in, to exploit. Now it will be far more regulated and governed.”
He says they are hopeful that this process is the answer for their communities.
“There is a hunger to get going, to extract benefits from resources while identifying additional resources for the medium- and long-term so that more benefits can come to fishers.”
An appeals process for fishers whose applications were unsuccessful is currently underway and should be concluded within the next month.
