Mr Mannya reported that freshwater aquaculture is unfunded and will form part of Operation Phakisa. He mentioned that the first draft of an Aquaculture legislation is expected by the end of March for internal consultation and might be ready for tabling in Parliament in 2016. He further mentioned that fisheries research is highly underfunded and research funding in general is declining across most sectors in the country. Another challenge that was mentioned was skills shortage within the Branch. It was reported that according to international norms, the Department needs approximately 2 000 Fisheries Control Officers (FCOs) to be able to appropriately cover the entire coast of South Africa, and it currently has 250 FCOs. It was mentioned that 25 additional posts were approved for the Branch, mostly for Operation Phakisa, Aquaculture and Harbour Masters but none for FCOs.