NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 103
DATE OF PUBLICATION: THURSDAY, 09 FEBRUARY 2012 [IQP No 01 -2012] FOURTH
SESSION, FOURTH PARLIAMENT
QUESTION 103 FOR WRITTEN REPLY: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: MR J H STEENHUISEN (DA)
TO ASK THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES
1) Whether she or officials of her department were recently approached by
a group of fishers seeking permission to fish in the restricted zone
of the Langebaan marine protected area (MPA) until the end of January
2012; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what is
the name of the group, (b) when was the approach made and (c) what was
her departmentâs response to the request;
2) what is her departmentâs justification for granting this group
permission to fish in a restricted area of an MPA;
3) whether her department consulted with the Department of Environmental
Affairs about this decision; if not, why not; if so, what was the
response of the Department of Environmental Affairs;
4) whether her department is committed to protecting the integrity of
MPAs; if not, why not; if so, how was this conclusion reached? NW112E
REPLY:
1) Yes, the department was approached recently by a group of fishers who
have rights to fish in Zone A of the Langebaan Marine Protected Area
(MPA), seeking permission to fish in the restricted zone, Zone B, of
MPA until the end of January 2012.
a) The name of the group was the Langebaan Netfishers.
b) The department was approached on the 10th of December 2011 in which
the group of fishers requested permission to fish in Zone B of the
Langebaan MPA for two months.
c) The approval was granted on condition that all permit conditions set
out for the Langebaan Lagoon are adhered to during the period that the
permission is valid, that lawful instructions from fishery control
officers and/or officials from South African National Parks must be
followed and that permission was only granted for a period of one
month; from 15 December 2011 to 15 January 2012.Â
2) Permission to fish in Zone B due to increased tourism activity in Zone
A was also requested in 2010 and granted on the same conditions. A
further consideration was food security and to ensure the economic
viability of the netfish commercial fishing rights granted to the
Langebaan Netfishers. The fact that three long-term netfish commercial
fishing rights were allocated in Zone B and only one was active at the
time of the request also supported the decision.
3) Yes,consultation was done through the Department of Environmental
Affairsâ (DEA) - Managing Agent, SANParks. SANParks was not in favour
of the request, but indicated that DAFF has to take the final decision
in the matter.
4) Yes, the department is committed to protecting the integrity of MPAs.