Freedom Front Plus welcomes restoration of 297 small-scale fishermen's rights after sustained pressure

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The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) shares in the joy of small-scale fishermen from the West Coast region who have regained the right to once again take to the sea with their fishing boats. This rectifies a mistake that should never have occurred in the first place.

This rectification is the result of numerous letters, sustained pressure and a formal appeal process after the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment decided to reduce the number of small-scale fishing boats with fishing rights from 547 to just 77.

Consequently, cooperatives and small-scale fishermen and fishing communities had to fight for the very rights that the Department was supposed to protect.

The fishermen were plunged into uncertainty for months by departmental decisions severely restricting their access to traditional line-fishing rights. This not only jeopardised their income, but also food security, local economic activity and the dignity of fishing families who depend on the sea for survival.

The Freedom Front Plus rejects any claims by the relevant Minister, Mr Willie Aucamp, that restoring the fishing rights was a stroke of genius and spontaneous sound judgement on his part. This outcome required sustained pressure.

The Freedom Front Plus wants to make this very clear: the fishermen, cooperatives and communities are the ones who deserve all the credit, because they refused to back down and accept their fate. They justifiably took a stand against an onslaught on their right to exist.

The incident exposes underlying problems in the management of small-scale fisheries: inadequate consultation and decision-making that fails to take the practical and human consequences into account.

The Freedom Front Plus will keep insisting that the rights and interests of small-scale and subsistence fishers be approached with the necessary seriousness, respect and consistency.

These communities deserve certainty, fair allocations and proper recognition of their historical and economic role – not rectifications after they have already suffered severe damage.