Corruption in Fisheries: The Abalone Crisis by Anton Kruger
Corruption in Fisheries: The Abalone Crisis by Anton Kruger – Anton Kruger is a humble waterman from the Boland area who has a big voice. Anton is a voice for the many discriminated-against fishing communities dotted along our lovely coastline. They are abused and pushed around by the Department of Fisheries, an ignorant rogue government organisation with a long history of zero understanding of anything to do with the ocean, her ways, and the rites of passage that might eventually lead to her blessings and her bounty.
Over to Anton…
It is no secret that the Department of Fisheries has a long history of corruption and incompetence.
The constant struggle for financial survival experienced by many legal fishermen, as well as the severely depleted state of most of our fishing resources, serves as a constant reminder to us about just how rotten this organization has become.
Their latest plan, to be implemented by DDG Ms. Sue Middleton, really is the cherry on top, and needs to go down in the halls of fame of South African atrocities implemented by corrupt, idiotic and uncaring governments, right alongside the evacuation of District 6.
Ms. Middleton has been quietly hatching plans to completely take away the fishing rights of 300 abalone fishers while consulting with everyone except those that will be losing their fishing rights in the process. In true “apartheid era” style; their rights would simply be given to another much larger group living in the same community, while ignoring all objections. Needless to say, this will only serve to further divide and enrage fishing communities. This bomb was recently dropped on them by Mr. Odwa Debula, director of Inshore Fisheries, at the latest Abalone Working Group Meeting.
When angry fishers insisted to meet with Ms. Middleton in person to discuss, she chose to hide in her office rather than face the people whose lives she is about to destroy. The quota holders were haughtily informed via email to submit their comments in writing once the plans were Gazetted. It is no secret that once anything gets Gazetted in South Africa, it is rarely changed.
Please consider that all of this is supposedly done under the banner of “Transformation.” Then consider that about 95% of these fishers, that will permanently lose their rights if Ms. Middleton has her way, come from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. This fishery has clearly been“Transformed” a long time ago. In fact, these fishers have been making a living from legally diving abalone for over 20 years, they have invested in equipment, paid levies and taxes, qualified themselves as divers and faced the elements in one of the most dangerous occupations in the world. Harvesting abalone is what they know and what they are good at.
They are by no means rich either. Almost none of them have insurance, pensions or medical aid. In fact, their quotas are so small that it is not a viable fishery at all. To be an independent abalone quota holder, you need a boat, 4×4 vehicle, diving compressor, diving equipment, satellite tracking system and many other small things including lots of expensive pieces of paper called certificates. Currently the new replacement value of this equipment is close to 2 million rand. Yet, due to their small quotas, these divers will do well if they clear R40 000 per year from their quotas after covering all their expenses. This means that they will have to dive for 50 years just to pay for their equipment, if they do not use a single cent to pay for “luxuries” – like food on the table. It is no surprise that many of them are using old, unsafe, unreliable and outdated vessels, vehicles and diving equipment.
Industry standard for business states that if you cannot repay your capital investment in 3 to 5 years, a business is not considered viable. It is therefore ironic that the gazetted abalone fishing policy says that “minimum viable quotas” will be awarded, while it clearly has never been the case for these fishers.
On the other hand, I recall that Ms. Middleton’s position was advertised about 8 years ago for R600 000, plus all the usual state benefits like pensions and medical aid. With inflation, Ms. Middleton’s “package” should be worth close to a million rands per year by now. It is therefore no surprise that Ms. Middleton has been known to come to meetings, when she still lowered herself enough to speak to us, with the latest sexy black 2-door Mercedes. It is likely that the abalone fishers under discussion clear a mere 5% of what Ms. Middleton earns in a year. Even this will soon come to an end if Ms. Middleton has her way.
The same thing Ms. Middleton now plans for the abalone sector was done to a lesser degree to the Nearshore West Coast Rock Lobster Sector in 2016, when this fishery was effectively destroyed by the department in the name of “Transformation.” Once again, they targeted the small, struggling independent fisherman with no access to legal resources, and once again 90% of these fishers were from historically disadvantaged communities. The quotas of these poor fishermen were cut far below the viable level, while the bulk of the lobster TAC remains today in the hands of only two large companies that have profited from lobster for many years, namely Oceana and Premier fishing. If the intention was to “Transform”, they would have been the obvious starting point. This should be investigated and corrected.
The last thing to consider is that the abalone resource is severely depleted. Large scale poaching, which the Department has taken very few effective measures against to ensure that our abalone stays alive and in the water, has decimated our resource while the Department has benefited greatly from the sale of confiscated dead poached abalone. In fact, the Department has been boasting about financing themselves this way. Making a large, new group of people, most of them not qualified to dive abalone and therefore likely to be paper quota holders, financially dependent on this depleted resource, is highly irresponsible. The Department’s first responsibility is towards the survival of our resources. In fact, by International Treaty they are not supposed to consider ANY expansion of a fishery when the level of a resource has declined below 20% of pristine, a level that South African abalone has dipped below a long time ago.
Much hope has been expressed that the new Minister of DFFE, Dr. Dion George, would step in and arrest the madness in our fisheries department. It however appears that this will not happen. All emails to minister George on the subject have been ignored. Minister George faced the fishers in Hermanus once with the empty promise that he would be back. He never returned. Our only conclusion is that a deal was made in the GNU not to derail certain plans that were set in motion under ANC rule. It makes you wonder what other ‘deals’ were made.
The sentiment that “You have had your chance; it is now time for someone else to take over” has been conveyed to us through the grapevine.
Our message to all those officials, ministers, members of parliament and politicians who advocates this is simply:
“If you feel so strongly about helping those you perceive as being “in need”, please proceed by example. It is only fair that you should not expect from us what you would not wish unto yourself.
Therefore, please resign with immediate effect and make arrangements to select a replacement from those that you are concerned about. You have had your chance, it is time for someone else to benefit from your massive salary.
Only once you have done this, come back to us to discuss taking our livelihoods away.”
We should stop putting these overpaid, self righteous clowns on pedestals. They are not acting in the best interest of fishers, or in the best interest of our resources. They are dividing our communities and causing conflict and suffering. They are the problem, not the solution.
There are solutions, but they will only be found through frank and open discussion including all roleplayers, and implemented by a more sensible government than the current one.
Anton Kruger
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umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za – will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine
masterwatermen.co.za – news from under water
fishbazaruto.com – dreams
brucifire.co.za – surf retorts
