Small-scale fishers cornered Deputy Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Bheki Cele during the launch of World Fisheries Day in Saldanha yesterday.
Representatives from many fishing organisations and fishing communities from the West Coast took the opportunity to demand the minister answer many of their grievances.
The session followed the minister’s tour of the aquaculture programmes for mussels, trout and oyster farming under way in the Saldanha and Langebaan areas, which form part of the department’s Operation Phakisa initiative.
Cele said the tour gave a good indication of the hard work and challenges faced by those farming the species and the work it created for the local community.
The minister engaged fishers, the local community and other role-players afterwards to discuss how fisheries and aquaculture could benefit all sectors.
Lambert's Bay fisher Ferdinand Fransman addressed Cele, saying he was speaking on behalf of "the collective" that represents 21 community-based organisations.
“We had a meeting with you, the Minister Senzeni Zokwana and the Fisheries deputy director-general, Siphokazi Ndudane, in September," he said.
"You gave us many promises that turned out to be lies. What we want to know today, minister, specifically with the West Coast rock lobster, is what happens to our poor people after February.”
The department announced on November 10 that the total allowable catch for the 2017/18 fishing season for rock lobster would remain at 1924.08 tons - the same as the previous season.
St Helena Bay small-scale fisher Cathy Thomas said a policy designed for small-scale fishers in 2005 was never implemented by the department.