Abalone fishing by 'outsiders' can go ahead, judge rules

There is nothing wrong with the government's decision to allow abalone quota holders from Hawston and Kleinmond to fish in the waters around Robben Island - far from where they are based and where the abalone resource has been depleted. A Weekend Argus report says this is the effect of a judgment handed down in the Western Cape High Court in an application lodged by abalone fishing rights holders from the Cape Peninsula and the West Coast, against the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the deputy DG of Branch Fisheries. At the centre of the group's application was a policy issued by the department in 2003, based on an internationally renowned Territorial User Rights Fishery (Turf) system, aimed at combating abalone poaching. In terms of Turf, rights holders adjacent to a particular zone should get preference over those from other zones, in a bid to encourage them to manage their areas better - effectively protecting the local abalone resource from exploitation and illegal harvesting. In his ruling, Acting Judge Rob Stelzner said the policy was a framework to curb illegal harvesting of abalone, and was never intended to be of immutable general application, the report states. Full Weekend Argus report (subscription needed)

Alarmingly, abalone have become 'functionally extinct' from Hawston to Hermanus, the Fisheries Department told parliamentarians last week. And, according to a Cape Times report, in the region from Gansbaai to Quoin Point, stocks are hovering just above the point of collapse. Officials from the fisheries branch of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries told MPs that the number of abalone poached was way above the legal quota, which prevented stocks recovering. The demand for wild abalone 'far exceeds supply and its extremely high value continues to drive illegal fishing'. In the case of the abalone, the primary reason for their being functionally extinct in the Hawston to Hermanus region is heavy poaching. Various law enforcement agencies and strategies over the past 15 years have failed to halt the illegal harvesting, the report states. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

Meanwhile, scores of white plastic bags used in the feeding of commercially grown abalone are washing up on the East Coast, says a Daily Dispatch report. The bags from the Wild Coast Abalone factory at Marsh Strand have been found on beaches at the Double Mouth Nature Reserve and Black Rock. This was confirmed by the company's managing director, Richard Clark, who stressed that they were sensitive to the environment and their neighbours, and had put a number of corrective measures in place. He promised to put more resources and effort into sorting out the problem. However, frustrated East London medical doctor and former Border angler, Peter Meyer (55), said he had been asking Clark for months to stop the pollution, but to no avail. Meyer suspects company employees throw the bags into the outlet stream. Clark said a team of supervised employees also scoured an area 'a couple of hundred metres' around the plant to keep the environment clean every week and he was surprised that bags were picked up 4km away. Full Daily Dispatch report