Believe it or not, reporting on activities in the fishing industry is a stimulating experience. There is nothing like a bit of action to get a journo’s juices flowing! So when news came that there was to be a mass march through the streets of Cape Town, yours truly ditched the elaborate launch of the Ruth First inshore patrol vessel in favour of pounding the pavements. (see page 26)

The people are passionate. Whether they believe in the cause or not, they are insistent that they will be heard. It’s not a bad thing – worse would be a society that just shuts up and lets the government do what it likes.

Despite this, the Minister stands firm. The policies have been approved by Cabinet (with a few changes) and a lot of fishers at sea level cannot dispute that they will be very happy. Less happy is big business, but in an attempt to keep the peace, the Minister has invited them to a consultation (not negotiation!) about the formula used to arrive at the quantum allocation. The other option is for the government to make use of the “sizeable war chest” set aside for litigation.

The fishing industry reeled in disbelief when it heard that 14 crew members had died aboard the Lindsay, a hake trawler, which sank within moments of colliding with tanker carrying liquid fruit juice 20 nautical miles south of Port Elizabeth. Any loss at sea is a tragedy which SAMSA is desperate to prevent, and so it recently published the proposed draft Merchant Shipping Amendment Bill and Merchant Shipping (seafarer accident insurance) Regulations.

Concluding, we had the opportunity to talk to a number of people active in the hake trawl and long line fisheries. When the draft policy was first mooted, the handful of right holders controlling about 70% of the hake trawl stock, could hardly believe their ears that they were likely to lose some quantum. Look at how we have done for black empowerment, job creation, transformation – and then the government tells us sorry, it is not BEE we are interested in, it is SMEs! How they best deal with this in coming months should make for interesting reading.

There’s never a dull moment!


Cover Story - I&J

I&J, a founder member of the Proudly South African campaign, received the Marketer of the Year award at the PSA Home Grown Awards earlier this year. Adjudicated by a representative panel of PSA leaders from business, government, trade unions and the community, the competition attracted 368 submissions which spanned a wide range of industry sectors. In view of the stiff competition across industry sectors, I&J believes that the award is also a tribute to the fishing industry. I&J has incorporated the PSA logo on a range of 60 of its retail products of which 20-million packs are sold annually. Seen onboard one of I&J’s vessels in Table Bay Harbour are some of their fishing crew proudly displaying I&J’s Marketer of the Year trophy.