Rights for hake deep-sea trawl fishery vital to the economy
The hake deep-sea trawl fishery is an industrial fishery and does not overlap with small-scale fisheries, nor does it compete for their resources
Long-term rights for 12 commercial fisheries will be allocated by the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries next year. Among the 12 fisheries earmarked for allocation is the hake deep-sea trawl fishery, which is of critical importance to the ocean economy because it accounts for approximately 45% of the value of all SA’s commercial fisheries. A study of the hake deep-sea trawl fishery completed in December 2018 by independent economic consultants Genesis Analytics determined that the fishery is by far SA’s most successful — it generates annual sales of at least R4.5bn and provides what President Cyril Ramaphosa repeatedly refers to as “decent work” for approximately 7,300 South Africans, at least 2,430 of whom live in small fishing communities such as Gansbaai, Mossel Bay, Saldanha Bay and St Helena Bay, where unemployment levels are extremely high. According to the Genesis Analytics researchers, sea-going employees in the hake deep-sea trawl fishery earn approximately R...
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