New handbook for fishing community to be launched

© Zacarias da Mata – za.fotolia.com

The handbook is a guide to the new small-scale fishing policy, which is part of the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill passed by the National Assembly last year and the National Council of Provinces on 12 March 2014, and now awaiting the president's signature. The new policy intends to improve the livelihood security of bona fide fishers and communities who depend on fish for food security, by promoting collective rights through legal entities.

The new policy, for the first time in South African history, realises the rights of fishers to be recognised, and to access food and livelihoods from fishing activities. The new policy also seeks to enhance the role of women in fishing communities, by empowering women to participate in managing marine resources, training women in marketing, tourism and aquaculture, and ensuring women are equally represented on institutional structures. These small-scale fishers now have preferential access to particular marine resources.

Accessing new rights

Written in the four main languages of coastal communities (English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa) the handbook is written in simple language, unpacking the legalese of the policy, and speaks directly to fishers, explaining step-by-step how they may go about accessing their new rights to inshore resources such as fish yellowtail, snoek, Cape Salmon, and West Coast rock lobster.

The launch of the book will provide fishing communities with an opportunity to interrogate the new policy, celebrate the new policy, and inform themselves about how to access their new rights. The book will be distributed to fishing communities across the country, and will be made available online after the launch.

The book will be launched on 15 May at the Ocean View Multipurpose Centre in Ocean View, Cape Town.