According to the government it will oppose the High Court interdict application being brought by commercial rock lobster (kreef) fishermen to prevent it from allowing more than 1 240 small-scale subsistence fishermen to catch and sell kreef for poverty relief purposes. Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told that the applicants, led by the West Coast Rock Lobster Association, hold long-term rights to catch kreef commercially.
Kreef association has argued in their court papers that Van Schalkwyk’s decision to allow “back door” fishing by the subsistence fishermen was taken against the advice of scientists. They alleged that the government has taken the decision in the face of a “severely depleted” kreef resource, and without any bona fide fisheries management reasons.
Commenting on this Van Schalkwyk said that developing policies to help subsistence and small-scale fishermen or artisanal fishers had been a difficult and lengthy process. He added that the authority is in the process of developing the subsistence and small-scale fishing policies to accommodate the bona fide traditional and subsistence fishers along the coast.
Van Schalkwyk informed that as the allocation of long-term fishing rights has being finalised, the department is ready to make allocations of fishing rights to the poorest fishers a priority.
