Moenieba Isaacs

Small-scale Fisheries Governance and Understanding the Snoek ( Thyrsites atun ) Supply Chain in the Ocean View Fishing Community, Western Cape, South Africa

Postapartheid fisheries reform in South Africa, through the Marine Living Resources Act (MLRA) 18 of 1998, used individual transferable quotas (ITQs) to broaden resource access through allocating quotas to new entrants, even though the system has been created to reduce capacity through a reduction in the number of active fishers. The formal action space created through fisheries reform in South Africa left many artisanal fishers to operate in the informal action spaces, selling Thyrsites atun (snoek) to poor communities to sustain their livelihoods. Artisanal fishers were not recognized by MLRA of 1998 and through class action case brought against the ITQ system, and in out of court settlement with the claimants in 2007, 1000 interim relief permits will be allocated to artisanal fishes and the development of a new small-scale fisheries policy for South Africa. In this case study of a fishing community in Ocean View, Cape Town I examine a snoek fishery that operates differently, through a community supply chain and informal markets, than that of the high value ITQ regulated species, yet plays a significant role in the livelihoods of artisanal fishers and in the food security of poor households. The findings of this case study show the failures of existing policy frameworks and the implications for the implementation of the new small-scale fisheries policy in South Africa.

Creating Action Space: Small-Scale Fisheries Policy Reform in South Africa

The main argument of this chapter centers on whether formalizing governance processes and drafting a small-scale fisheries policy will decrease vulnerability and improve the livelihoods of small-scale fishers. Findings suggest that with no one organization representing fishers in the communities of Struisbaai and Arniston along the southern coast of South Africa, the space is wide open for the elite (rights holders) to capture the benefits. The inability to access rights through formal channels has forced a situation where many fishers resort to poaching, even within the marine protected areas (MPAs). The analytical framework draws on concepts related to the institutional dimensions of fisheries governance; the formal and informal action space for developing a new small-scale fisheries policy for South Africa; and the vulnerability of fishers with weak agency. Data were collected mainly through qualitative methods from key informants, focus group interviews, household interviews, and participatory observations at the local community level.

The humble sardine (small pelagics): fish as food or fodder

BackgroundThe group of small pelagic fish is the largest species group landed globally. A significant proportion of this nutrient-rich food is processed and lost to livestock feed, fish feed, fish oil, pet food and omega-rich vitamins. The nutritional importance of small pelagics as an easily digestible protein source, rich in essential lipids with fatty acids (EPA/DHA), essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins, is well known and documented. Small pelagics contain all the elements of a healthy and nutritionally optimal food source for humans and are an important contributor to the food and nutritional security of many poor, low-income households in developing countries.FindingsLarge-scale and small-scale fisheries play an important role in contributing to food security and nutrition. Yet, all of the anchovy landings from large-scale fisheries are reduced to animal feed, fish oil and pet food in South Africa. The size of the species, labour costs and lack of incentives by the state are some of the challenges to redirecting anchovy for human consumption. This trend is also now prevalent in Tanzania, where most (84%) of the dagaa fished is reduced to fishmeal in Kenya, mainly to feed chickens. The main challenges are post-harvest handling and sanitation.ConclusionsThe redirecting of small pelagics to human consumption will depend on the role of the state in Tanzania and South Africa in investing in post-harvest processing. The role small-scale fisheries play in providing fish for food security needs to be understood in the context of economic viability and of how data are reported in this sector as compared to large-scale fisheries.

The Governability of Small-Scale Fisheries Food System in South Africa – The Case of Snoek and West Coast Rock Lobster

Poor people’s consumption of good quality nutrition from fish protein is compromised by the high demand for high quality fish protein from wealthy consumers in the developed world (particularly United States, Europe and Japan). In South Africa, the diet of the poor, and many of those catching high quality fish, consists mostly of cheap processed and industrialized food, rich in fat, salt and sugar. A new small-scale fisheries policy has been developed to help rectify the problem. This policy is based on a human rights approach to fisheries governance and with an aim to promote social and economic justice for small-scale fishers and small-scale communities in South Africa. A key aspect of this policy is to protect livelihoods and promote food security through allocating fishing rights to community entities. How the right to livelihoods translates into the right to food in small-scale fishing communities is a major question, however. This chapter examines this issue by looking at the food system of two important small-scale species – Thyritesatun (snoek) for “nutritious” consumption and sale and Jasus lalandii (west coast rock lobster; WCRL) for “luxury” consumption. The governance of the food system and the challenges for the governability of the snoek and WCRL small-scale fisheries are critically assessed.

Multi-stakeholder process of co-designing small-scale fisheries policy in South Africa

In 2005, a group of researchers, community-based organizations and lawyers got together with small-scale fishers to launch a class action law suit against the government of South Africa in its allocation system of Individual Transferable Quotas, on the ground that the system was unfair to small-scale fishing communities and threatened their right to practise their livelihoods. This effort resulted in the cabinet adoption of a new small-scale fisheries policy in 2014, with amendments being made to fisheries law (the Marine Living Resource Act 18 of 1998) to accommodate the issues and concerns of small-scale fisheries. Draft regulations and an implementation plan have recently been released, paving the way for the implementation of small-scale fisheries allocations in 2016. These legal and policy shifts are of great significance for small-scale fisheries, both in South Africa and elsewhere, and deserve careful examination. This paper discusses the processes leading to the development of a new small-scale fisheries policy and what has followed since. Specifically, the analysis focuses on a variety of collaborations between scholars from different disciplines; researchers from multiple fields; community practitioners representing diverse professional and community perspectives; and community organizations across local, state, national and international levels. The paper uses a model of change that crosses research and practitioner boundaries based on three key strategies: getting noticed; organizing at scale; and getting a seat at the negotiation table. It also considers the “transdisciplinary” process of involving all relevant actors in strategic, collective, reflection–action–reflection–action “from below”, which was crucial in the co-designing of this small-scale policy formulation in South Africa.

Fish and Food Security in Small-Scale Fisheries

Fish is among the most eaten foods and traded commodities in the world, and small-scale fisheries provide food, jobs, and life satisfaction to billions of people worldwide. Yet, they are rarely recognized for these facts in global-level discussions about food systems and security. In this chapter, we argue that any discussion of food security, global or local, is incomplete if fisheries, and small-scale fisheries specifically, are not included. In this chapter, we discuss the many ways that small-scale fisheries contribute to local and global food security and to sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities. These include fish as an object of exchange and a marker of culture identity, and fisheries as a context in which people can connect their own health and well-being to the health of marine and freshwater ecosystems. The chapter begins with an introduction to the concepts of food systems and food security, the latter entailing more than just whether food is available, but also whether people have access to foods that are nutritious and culturally preferred. We conclude by discussing how a rights-based approach to food systems effectively brings these various ways that people engage with fisheries to the fore.