UPDATE: Rural fishermen continue fight for rights
Zululand's rural communities fighting for fishing rights.
NORTHERN KZN’s rural communities who claim they have been ‘dispossessed’ of traditional land and fishing rights continue to fight the provincial government on the implementation of its Small Scale Fishing (SSF) policy.
Masifundise KZN Fieldworker Lindani Ngubane said this came about because the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) planned to appoint Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) as the service provider and policy implementer.
‘The people did not like this because they had many problems with EKZNW. When the fisheries portfolio committee visited KZN communities they complained about this,’ said Ngubane.
EKZNW was subsequently not appointed as the service provider which, according to Masifundise, is a ‘triumph for the community’, but put KZN fishers behind other provinces, all of which have appointed SSF service providers.
The iSimangaliso Wetland Park is also an area of ‘great concern’ to KZN’s small scale fishers, who say their communities were ‘disowned in the name of nature’ under the apartheid government and the current government has failed to restore their rights and traditional practices.
‘People are denied to fish there and DEA makes it very difficult for people to earn a living in the park,’ said Ngubane, who also complained that the park is reserved for tourists and that communities are permitted to catch four fish daily, an insufficient income generator.
‘The use of fish and other natural resources in the park is allowed and limits are set through zoning, bag limits, a fish list and regulating fishing methods,’ said iSimangaliso Media Officer, Siyabonga Mhlongo.
‘A license issued by the South African Post Office is also required. This is done so park resources can remain sustainable and available for future generations.
‘Indiscriminate and unsustainable types of fishing methods, such as gill nets, are not permitted’.
Mhlongo said iSimangaliso is open to discussion with small scale fishers and other user groups.
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