Cape Town - Small-scale fishers (SSF) from Arniston in the Western Cape had their homes or fishing premises raided by police and local authority agencies last week after it was found that they had failed to fit their boats and vessels with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment’s now mandated vessel monitoring systems (VMS).
The fishers said there was no way they could afford these required systems, which cost about R8 000, and that this mandate was another structural barrier stopping them from accessing their fishing grounds and securing their livelihoods.
Department spokesperson Albi Modise said the VMS units assisted the department’s efforts to reduce illegal fishing and poaching by enabling them to track which vessel was finishing when and where.
It also acted as a safety device for fishers should their vessels get into distress.
Masifundise is an organisation that looks after and defends the interests of small-scale fishers. Its media and communications officer, Sibongiseni Gwebani, said, “Fishers without the VMS are often labelled as poachers or illegal fishers because they are fishing without the necessary monitoring systems.
“This poses a threat to their ability to go out and fish freely and uninhibited.”
Often struggling to meet basic needs such as putting food on the table for themselves and their families, Rovina Marthinus, a fisher from Arniston and a Coastal Links leader, said they could not afford the “fancy and expensive” VMS.
“We are not criminals, we are simply trying to put food on the table. It’s not right that we are labelled as illegal fishers or poachers just because we cannot afford VMS. We have a recognised fishing right, is that not enough to allow us to fish?” she said.
One of the small-scale fishers targeted in the raids said, “Arniston is a traditional SSF region, this is our heritage, our livelihoods, and yet government is trying to further impoverish us by mandating these systems and equipment that we should buy.”
He said many were frustrated by the constant battle they had to fight, whether it was for fishing rights, to have their status as small-scale fishers recognised, or expensive department-mandated equipment.
Modise said, “In the case of Arniston fishers, the local municipality indicated to the department that they were willing to assist the fishers financially by supporting the installation of VMS systems, and requested the department allow the fishers to fish without VMS units until such time that VMS systems could be installed.
“The department agreed to this by exempting them from this provision on a short-term basis.”
The department has since granted a further two-month exemption to the Arniston fishers to allow them time to become compliant.
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg confirmed that two suspects, aged 25 and 35, were arrested on Thursday evening for the possession of abalone during integrated operations between SAPS, Sea Fisheries and law enforcement.
