Environment Writer
ABALONE rights holders, whose rights expired on Wednesday, have been given the nod by the government to continue fishing for another year.
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Senzeni Zokwana announced yesterday that all those who held long-term rights to fish abalone would be granted exemptions from having to have a licence to take out abalone until July 2015.
He also granted those who had not been able to catch their full quota of abalone this season to continue to take out their uncaught abalone until September 30.
Zokwana said the decline in abalone stocks was “extremely worrying”.
In 2003 abalone quotas were given to 302 small-scale commercial fishermen. These were withdrawn in October 2007 because of the massive impact of abalone poaching.
In July 2010, then fisheries minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson reopened abalone fishing.
Yesterday fisheries management consultant Shaheen Moolla said this was the ninth fishing sector to be given exemptions from having to have licences.
“What we’re seeing is the farcical collapse of the fishing system to what it was in the 90s. The health of the abalone stocks is a smokescreen, which has everything to do with the department’s failure to curb poaching.”