08 January 2020

The Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Barbara Creecy, will tomorrow, 09 January 2020, host a stakeholder meeting with the fishing coastal community of Port Nolloth, in the Northern Cape Province.

South Africa has a long history of coastal communities utilising the marine resources for various purposes, using mostly traditional methods of fishing with limited benefit from technology. The conditions under which these traditional fishing communities work are harsh and their efforts to provide for themselves and their families are not recognised.

Many of these fishers and communities have been marginalised through previous fisheries management systems.

As part of an extensive Small Scale Fisheries Policy implementation process, the department declared South Africa’s first two small-scale fishing cooperatives in the Northern Cape on the 28th September 2018.

The Northern Cape was the first province to have two declared small-scale fishing cooperatives (Aukwatowa and Longtime Hondeklipbaai Primary Cooperatives) that received 15 year small-scale fishing rights.

In 2018, the two cooperatives participated in their first fishing season for commercial and own used species as per the right granted.

Minister Creecy will use the meeting to engage with and respond to Fisheries related issues from the coastal community and the surrounding areas.  

Members of the Media are invited to attend this meeting.

Details are as follows:

Date:  Thursday, 09 January 2020
Time: 10:00
Venue: Aukwatowa Town Hall, Port Nolloth

To RSVP contact:

Tshego Letshwiti
Cell: 076 307 9634
E-mail: tletshwiti@environment.gov.za

Or

Gaopalelwe Moroane
Cell: 082 512 1094
E-mail: gmoroane@environment.gov.za

For all media inquiries contact:

Zolile Nqayi
Cell: 082 898 6483
E-mail: znqayi@environment.gov.za