As per a report commissioned by the Institute for Security Studies South Africa is facing the real menace of illegal fishing as it costs the nation in billions. It is reported that South Africa’s hake industry, which accounts for about half of the wealth generated from our commercial fisheries, is facing a crisis. The report titled “Contextualising Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing of Marine Resources in South African Waters” by Shaheen Moolla of Feike, a fisheries advisory firm.
According to the report in 2005 stolen abalone and Patagonian toothfish cost the country around R4.4bn. It also mentioned that if one adds the value of hake, small pelagics (pilchards and anchovies) and shark that are poached, it may be fair to assume that the value of fish stolen from South African waters may be as high as R6bn annually. The quote for hake in South Africa has been decreased by 14 percent from 2005 to 2007, which cost the hake industry about R300 million.
The government has involved the Spanish fishing fleet entering the local market through the back door with joint venture agreements with small quota holders. The Spanish caught the hake and paid the South African quota holder per ton caught. It was also standard practice on Spanish vessels to keep two logbooks, one to show the authorities and the other, which reflected the true catch, to show the owner.
It is reported that the Spanish vessels paid the local quota holders and “all profits are made by poaching on a significant scale”. A Spanish vessel, Echelar, which was taken off the South African fishing registry in 1997 because of illegal fishing, has now been allowed by Marine and Coastal Management to enter the hake fishery.
