Department’s Disaster Quota Management Impacts West Coast Livelihoods

GOOD Statement by Kaden Arguile, GOOD National Youth Organiser:

Disaster quota management has once again impacted the livelihoods of West Coast fishers. After enduring years of mismanagement and unjust environmental decisions, official quotas for crayfish have been delayed, miscalculated, and left unchallengeable, resulting in a massive loss of income for the community.

These fishers have faced challenge after challenge, dealing with environmental restrictions. With offshore oil drilling approvals putting their futures at risk and onshore mining threatening their heritage, maladministration is now jeopardising any chance of a stable income.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has ignored pleas from local fishers to communicate in a timely manner. The Minister, Mr Willie Aucamp’s labelling of this delay as “computational discrepancies” is not only disingenuous but also concerning.

Furthermore, the response was alarmingly nonsensical, involving the subtraction of quota allocations from some fishing groups only to add them to others. These errors have caused seasonal fishers, such as those in the crayfish sector, to lose their very narrow window of opportunity, which is essential for maintaining a profitable catch.

With recent approvals for offshore drilling and coastal mining, these families risk losing their entire culture, livelihoods, and future to industrial expansion.

GOOD calls for an immediate re-evaluation and a pause on industrial expansion on the West Coast. We cannot continue to steamroll ahead while a generational industry and culture are pushed to the wayside.

We call upon the DFFE and the Western Cape Government to establish a dedicated communication channel between West Coast fishers and the Department. In addition, all environmental quota decisions must involve consultation with fishers to avoid further “computational errors.”

This is vital for several reasons.

Firstly, some species (such as the Cape Rock Lobster) have a severely reduced population, currently sitting at 2%. Any fishing outside of permit limits results in heavy fines and societal condemnation.

Without accurate knowledge of quota allocations, business owners are in a state of limbo; endangering their livelihoods with every action they take.

Secondly, failures in communication and computation lead to panic, as many species are only caught in the correct quantities at specific points in the season.

We stand with the West Coast Small-Scale Fishers Cooperative Forum and support the requests made by the Legal Resources Centre for an updated process on quota arrangements.

We cannot conserve our rapidly decreasing fish population while discarding the families and businesses tied to it. An environmental victory is only a victory when no one is left behind.

GOOD Education: The party emphasizes the need for quality education and skills development.

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