The Kleinmond fisher community in the southern Cape region of South Africa relies on the ocean to put food on the table and money in the bank. Small-scale fishing contributes about R20m in revenue annually to the economy of the 13,000-strong community.
By definition “small scale” includes people who fish “traditionally” using low-impact equipment, such as fishers in small motorboats, line fishers, and lobster, mussel and abalone (perlemoen) fishers. Many fishers receive little meaningful benefit from their hard-earned catches.
To tackle this, WWF-SA (the local chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature), with funding from the WWF Nedbank Green Trust, is working with the small-scale fishers of Kleinmond to develop a fisheries improvement project. The goal is a more equitable value chain, giving fishers direct access to retailers and restaurants. The project has support from Pick n Pay.
“Through the creation of digital applications aimed at helping fishers and government to better quantify local catches, and to connect them to local markets, the project aims to empower newly established small-scale fishing co-ops to take control of their own destiny,” says Mkhululi Silandela, the small-scale fisheries officer for WWF-SA, who manages the Kleinmond project.
Tobie Badenhorst, the head of cause marketing at Nedbank, says the intention of the project is to “open the doors of conservation” to make it inclusive, relevant and beneficial to all South Africans.
With the impending allocation of small-scale fishing rights in 2016, it is vital for small-scale fishers to be well-organised to secure their livelihoods. Last year was difficult because of uncertainty about the new policy for the small-scale fisheries sector in SA and delays in the allocation of fishing rights.
The new policy, laudably, seeks to meet the needs of small-scale fishers along SA’s coastline, estimated at 30,000-50,000 people in 230 communities.
“Delays in implementing the policy have resulted in increasing frustration levels, and many people are forced to turn to illegal fishing or poaching to meet their needs,” Silandela says.
A major issue that needs to be resolved is the relationship between small-scale fishing communities and marine-protected areas.
Many small-scale fishers, who are dependent on their annual quotas of line fish, rock lobster, mussels and other species for a living or subsistence, have historically seen marine-protection as denying them their right to a harvest they have exploited for centuries.
But research has shown that, without maintaining protected areas in which marine species can breed, these overexploited resources are unlikely to recover.
The Kogelberg coast, which extends along 65km of coastline from Gordon’s Bay to Botrivier, is a rich fish and sea-food area and a major breeding ground for endangered line fish (including galjoen, and white and red steenbras), abalone and West Coast rock lobster.
“It is very clear that, in order to protect these sensitive areas, we need to create win-win solutions between the protected areas and the communities, by encouraging communities to take responsibility for managing their marine resources responsibly, and to speak up against ill practices, such as overfishing and poaching,” says John Duncan, the senior manager of WWF-SA’s marine programme. “This means implementing local management areas, based on sustainable fishing practices and the policy for the small-scale fisheries sector that benefit the communities and bring about sustainable development.”
In the Kogelberg area, it has been suggested that up to 80% of the inshore zone should be restricted for use by local small-scale and recreational fishers, while the remainder could be set aside as a “no take” area to allow the marine living resources to recover. However, it is not yet clear how the policy intends to manage competing interests in the inshore zone.
“Implementing the policy in SA is a very complex task, and won’t happen overnight,” says Silandela. “This is why, since April 2013, we have been working closely with the Kogelberg small-scale fishers on a number of small projects to develop trust and a good working relationship, in order to ensure the effective rollout of the policy, so that communities will tangibly experience the benefits.”
One of these projects, launched in October 2015 in partnership with researchers from the University of Cape Town includes the introduction of a cellphone-based catch-monitoring system.
Using an integrated information management system, the pilot project will provide near real-time catch data to the authorities, as well as opportunities for fishers to be linked to local restaurants through cellphone technology.
An internal control system has been developed to help the co-operatives to better manage the traceability of products and improve governance.
To give assistance to these fishers in the implementation of these and as other projects, WWF-SA has appointed local project co-ordinator Thelisa Mqoboka, who is based at the Kleinmond harbour.
“Through engagement and inclusion of the local communities in these and other conservation objectives and market opportunities, we are hoping to set a national precedent for small-scale fisheries management and markets, integrated coastal management and marine-protection area-management authorities to work collectively,” Silandela says.
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