By Natasha Prince
Fishermen and women illegally poached hundreds of crayfish off the coast of Paternoster in broad daylight, after first warning authorities of what they planned to do.
Police kept a low profile on Tuesday, with only one car in the beach parking lot, as the fishers went ahead with their act of defiance to highlight their exclusion from the fishing rights process, along with the environment minister's failure to respond to repeated requests for relief.
In spite of not having the necessary permits or licences, the fishers put to sea about 7am in 20 fishing boats to harvest crayfish.
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| 'Our people have nothing. The government is making criminals of us' |
After hauling about 12 full crates back to shore about noon, unchallenged by the authorities, and applauded by supporters, the fishers stood selling their catch to passing tourists.
A group of traditional fishermen and women from Paternoster and neighbouring West Coast fishing towns gathered on the beach in support of those who risked being jailed.
Naseegh Jaffer, director of Masifundise, a trust that promotes the rights of fishing communities, said a request had been made to environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk to provide emergency relief for the fishers during the Christmas season. The request was to allow fishers to remove 10 crayfish and 50 linefish each day.
Jaffer said Masifundise had contacted Marine and Coastal Management inspectorate about their planned harvest and had invited Van Schalkwyk to the beach to meet them.
Following the successful protest, Jaffer said: "What it did was to build a sense of solidarity and openly displays a net of defiance."
Christa Taylor of Paternoster waited anxiously on the shore for her husband Derrol and the other fishers to return on Tuesday.
The Taylors have three children, one of whom works in a fishing factory, and have lived in Paternoster all their lives.
"Our people have nothing. The government is making criminals of us," she said.
The family has a permit to remove and sell four crayfish a day. Selling these on the black market brought in about R100 "on a good day".
"But not every day is a good day," she said.
André Share, chief director responsible for resource management at the marine and coastal management branch of the department of environmental affairs and tourism, told the Cape Argus his department could not allow the lawlessness to continue.
He said they were awaiting reports of Tuesday's illegal fishing operation from fishing control officers.
Share was unaware that the department had advance warning of the action.
"Nowhere in the world would fish and fish alone be able to sustain an entire community," he said.
The department would conduct a socio-economic impact study to determine the damage and would look into alternative possibilities for the people involved in the action, he said.
The fishers said they had invited Van Schalkwyk because they wanted to show him that they were only trying to feed their families.
They also wanted him to see the traditional boats and gear so he could understand proposals they had submitted requesting the prioritising of the rights and needs of the traditional fishing sector.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Argus on December 13, 2006
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