[color=#006600]jace[/color] wrote:
Hi
You guys are acting like the two factions in the ANC at the moment. It is becomming increasing evident to most of that there two sentiments being endorsed and hidden. If guys REALLY want us to Contribute to this discussion I emplore both jb and standwolf to come clean with WHAT exactly how guys are ABOUT....a lot to say for openess and contribution.
Rdgs
Jace
Hi Jace
I am an attorney by training and work as a fisheries consultant. I have followed the debates surrounding small scale and artisanal fishing.
I am also a recreational angler and spearo. I have
My interest in this debate is largely academic and I do not act at the behest or instruction of any fishing sector.
I just enjoy exploring issues surrounding fisheries management.
One of the developments in the fishing industry is the growing interest in small scale fishers. By way of background I should point out that a group of small scale fishers sued the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the Equality Court alleging that they were discriminated against. MCM entered into a settlement that provided for small scale fishers to fish in a relatively unregulated way. It was an interesting poltical development.
I have tried to help out small scale fishers to complete application forms and to make sense of their permit conditions.
As you would have seen from a string of earlier recriminations I have got to know some drift net fishers as well as some of the trek net fishers.
I like to think about the issues that are being debated and particularly to explore common ground.
As a recreational fisher I am concerned about quick fix suggestions such as the one contained in the proposal under discussion.
Very simply. If the snoek and yellowtail resource can allow me to catch up to 10 of each then I want to be able to catch 10. For me the fishing experience starts long before I have caught the fish and long afterwards as well.
Take my approach to snoek fishing. I watch the weather. I grovel for a site on someone's boat.
My wife accuses me of playing "Snoek -Snoek" the night before the trip. I paint my lures with different colour nail polish and I tie up my traces and I coil and rec oil my hasper.
I get my coarse salt ready and my smoke powder.
The actual fishing is a buzz and the presence of seals makes it very interesting.
The snoek that I catch are each assigned their fate. some to the smoker some to the biltong hook and some to the braai.
The kuite are all collected and salted and smoked to make a dip.
Strandwolf will say that I should be forced to buy my snoek and should not be allowed to catch so many even though the resource can withstand a big recreational catch.
Strandwolf misses the point.
I also grow tomatoes. I make a mixture of bone meal and compost long before the planting season. I prune the vines to maximise the yield and when the tomatoes are ripe I eat them warm from the vine with a little coarse salt.
It is not the tomato or just the snoek that I am enjoying it is the fruition of my endeavours. I have worked with mother nature and I have achieved something.
What I am describing is refered to as part of the amenity value. I don't get my off on just putting fish on a boat. I enjoy the sense of self sufficiency that resonates in all of us.
The proposal that Strandwolf seems to be endorsing is a cop out. The answer is better compliance.
Another good example is the yellowtail. In the cape you only get a few weekends of the year when you can get onto yellowtail. A blanket bag limit by mass would mean that I would only be able to land very few fish. (I usually try to shoot the fish of around 6 to 8 kg so once I have pulled off a shot I must leave the water.
The stock can cope with my having 10 per day at least. So why not let me keep my 10.
With yellowfin the debate becomes more complex. Each fish is around 50 to 80 kgs and we need to report our catches to international bodies to be allowed to keep our country quota assigned to us by bodies that have their origin in the UN. We have to play by other people's rules.
I hope this gives some insight into where I come from.
