Struggling South African fishing businesses will benefit from an increase in the total allowable catch (TAC) for high-demand West Coast Rock Lobster (WCRL) after the government accepted a recommendation to adjust the current allowable tonnage.
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) spokesperson, Albie Modise, said in a statement on Monday that Minister Barbara Creecy had accepted the Consultative Advisory Forum’s (CAF) set of recommendations regarding the proposed new tonnage, the future management of the vulnerable WCRL resource, and the impact of poaching. Creecy appointed the CAF in November to advise her department on the WCRL fishery. The forum handed its report to the minister on December 10.
“Necessary regulatory processes will be followed to give expression to this decision. The report recommends that the TAC be increased for the 2021/22 season to 700 tons from the present 600 tons given the dire socio-economic conditions of fishers reliant on West Coast Rock Lobster for their livelihood,” Modise said.
Creecy appointed the forum following concerns raised by fishing communities about the reduction of the WCRL TAC for the present season based on challenges linked to declining stocks.
In addition to recommending an increase in the TAC for the current fishing season, the advisory forum also recommended that the department pilot a more participatory “co-management” approach to the fishery to:
- Improve stakeholder buy-in
- Develop and urgently implement a poaching reduction strategy to maintain the stock
- Ensure fishing communities receive benefits along the entire value chain through capacity building and regulation of marketers.
In terms of proportional cuts, the forum advised that the 700-ton recommended TAC be implemented in a manner that the recreational fishing sector remained at the allocation level of 21.57 tons (based on TAC of 600 tons), which translated to a negligible decrease in their proportion of the revised TAC.
"The “savings” should be split equally between the commercial fishing (nearshore) and the small-scale fishers (nearshore) and interim relief.
The CAF further recognised a general lack of social and economic data and knowledge to effectively guide management in this fishery. It recommended an integrated socio-economic study be done in parallel with the poaching reduction strategy. This study can support future apportionment and allocation decisions," Modise said.
“The CAF recognised that the method used to determine the TAC was sound and subjected to peer review by international experts. However, the CAF recommended that the department consider whether the relatively high variance of the Fishery Independent Monitoring Survey (FIMS) data could be affecting trend estimates and the implications of un-surveyed components of stock, especially in deeper water,” Modise said.
The CAF recommended the DFFE consider introducing a coastal “reference fleet” to support closing data gaps and review commercial catch per unit effort (CPUE) data, specifically trap landing slips as some stakeholders expressed concern about trap landing slips which may incorrectly over-report trap effort.
The report emphasised the importance of improving understanding of stock sizes less than 75mm carapace length, especially females. It also recommended that a more supported poaching estimate should be agreed upon by the WCRL Scientific Working Group, small-scale fishers and industry observers by the 2022/23 fishing season.
