Good news for False Bay

[Angus]

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[align=center]OVERVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND FISHERIES INFORMATION TO PROMOTE ARTISANAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN THE BCLME REGION – SOUTH AFRICA [/align]
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[align=center]FINAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS (SOUTH AFRICA) [/align][font=EAOHHO+Arial,Arial][font=EAOHHO+Arial,Arial]
[align=center]FEBRUARY 2005 [/align]

[align=center]Prepared by: [/align]
Paula Cardoso, Environmental Evaluation Unit, University of Cape Town, Dr Peter Fielding, Fieldwork and Dr Merle Sowman, Environmental Evaluation Unit, University of Cape Town [/align]
 

Makes for interesting reading: Some findings/comments in the above 163 page report :

"There are fewer data available for the beach seine fishery on the West and Southern Cape Coast. Mullet ([font=EAOHIA+Arial,Italic,Arial][font=EAOHIA+Arial,Italic,Arial]Liza richardsonii[/font][/font]) comprise the principal catch, and scientists estimate that bycatch species probably comprise less than 5% of catch landed. A permit requirement of net fishers is the completion and submission of catch returns, but MCM scientists believe these returns are largely inaccurate, with up to 90% of effort and catch (particularly bycatch) not being reported. The lack of reliable data results in the management authorities adopting a conservative approach to management. Greater involvement of the fishers in the monitoring and management of the resource should lead to improved understanding of resource sustainability issues and greater stewardship of resources upon which they depend for their livelihood. "

"In view of the fact that most marine resources are either fully exploited or overexploited, government needs to devote effort to research on stock rebuilding strategies. Rather than simply reducing effort, government also needs to explore other effective mechanisms for rebuilding overexploited stocks such as the declaration of Marine Protected Areas and Closed Areas."

 

"MCM needs to increase the number of compliance staff in areas where there are significant concentrations of informal fishers. However, MCM and their compliance staff need to go beyond enforcement and look at creative ways of increasing compliance. There is a need to examine other mechanisms to achieve compliance"
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[BTTB]

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Mullet (Liza richardsonii) comprise the principal catch, and scientists estimate that bycatch species probably comprise less than 5% of catch landed.

Thanks for posting Angus.
One forgets that trek licences were principally granted for the purpose of catching Mullet. It is obvious the bycatch exceeds 5% as the facts speak for themselves and as to the trekkers intentions of what they would prefer to catch in the False Bay area.

Actually come to think of it, the person that applied and got the rights reissued at Klein Vishoek must obviously have the bycatch that swims past that area in mind as from what I heard he was offered a trek licence along the Scarborough Coastline instead, but refused it, an area might I add which is a lot closer to Ocean View and the Community the rights were reissued to. Either he thought there was more Mullet at Klein Vishoek than Scarborough or the lure of the bycatch made up his mind to stick to his guns.
I doubt Yellowtail and Steenbras frequent the Scarborough coastline?

 

[jb2]

BTTB wrote:

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Mullet (Liza richardsonii) comprise the principal catch, and scientists estimate that bycatch species probably comprise less than 5% of catch landed.

Thanks for posting Angus.
One forgets that trek licences were principally granted for the purpose of catching Mullet. It is obvious the bycatch exceeds 5% as the facts speak for themselves and as to the trekkers intentions of what they would prefer to catch.

Actually come to think of it, the person that applied and got the rights reissued at Klein Vishoek must obviously have the bycatch that swims past that are in mind as from what I heard he was offered a trek licence along the Scarborough Coast instead, but refused it, a lot closer to Ocean View and the Community the rights were reissued to. Either he thought there was more Mullet at Klein Vishoek than Scarborough or the lure of the bycatch made up his mind.
I doubt the Yellowtail and Steenbras frequent the Scarborough coastline?

Hi BTTB

You are not correct in this instance. The report was dealing with both the west coast and False Bay treks.

The west coast treks are mullet and St Joseph oriented and the False Bay treks are geared to harders but have always had a significant linefish component.

I would guess that the Southern treks are geared to Yellowtail.

The west coast and False Bay net fisheries are two distinct fisheries with a separate management regime.

 

[BTTB]

Hi jb2.

Thanks. I have edited my post, a spelling mistake and a change in one or two sentences.

While the West Coast treks will comprise mainly Mullet and Shark species, the False Bay trekkers could be divided into zones of what species they catch if you come to think of it. I suppose it can get quite complicated for even the MCM?

Smitswinkle is mainly Yellowtail and Mullet. On any given day in summer those trekkers are only really interested in Yellowtail to make it worth their while as whatever they catch has to either be carried up the mountain or transported by sea. It cannot be worthwhile calling a boat to take away 200 Kilos of Mullet, but it still has to be carted up the mountain and would Mullet be worth all that effort?

Simonstown and Fishhoek has similar characteristics in the sense of what species they target and that is mainly Yellowtail and Mullet, but every now and then they will get White Steenbras.

The Muizenberg to Strandfontein coastline has a far wider range of species that can be caught of which the most common "bycatch" is probably Cob, hence all the fuss.

 

[kraken]

When I see ANC and COSATU mentioned in the same breath, I'm inclined to run for the hills! hehehehehehehehe!!!

 

 

[kraken]

@Strandwolf, I commend you for wanting to stand up for the rights of the little guy and his right to make a living, but I can't help but wonder if all this animosity towards the real players in the industry and the policy makers is not perhaps causing more harm than good.

Once again, the researchers that I know DO interact with all sectors of the commercial fishery. Maybe you need to be a bit more open in your approach to them and get them on your side. Just a suggestion!

I crewed on the boat Sceptre in the early 90's and we slaughtered the red steenbras on the Alphards. Steven had the old A license and was fully within his rights to do so.

Research has been done on that stock and at the right time of year and it can't be denied that it took a hammering. The 74's used to be common and large on those banks although that was a little before my time. Once again, research was done on that stock as well.

I honestly think you need to work with the researchers rather than shoot them down. I highly doubt that they were all torturing people at Vlakplaas back in the day!

 

[BTTB]

kraken wrote:

I crewed on the boat Sceptre in the early 90's and we slaughtered the red steenbras on the Alphards. Steven had the old A license and was fully within his rights to do so.

Hi Kraken.
I think we have chatted before here on Sealine as I remember someone mentioning fishing with Stephen Noble on the Sceptre. He knew that East Coast like the back of his hand. He was not the only one btw.
Is there anyone still fishing those outside banks other than some smaller boats doing short trips to and from the Alphard, based in Struisbaai. There is also the 45's and 72's, nobody fish there any more? Maybe no licence?
I think you might have caught more Red Steenbras nearer to some of the 45's than the Alphards, there are some good marks in those areas of which I recall fishing on myself. The one in particular if my memory serves is in a very specific area near the 45's, one day we caught Red Steebras, 74's and a couple of White Steenbras believe it or not. In the earlier 80's Pietie Dreyer and Kenny Kingma caught a few boatloads of Red Steenbras in this area I am talking about, very specific flat shale type bottom, 42 fathoms I think. Only a few of the guys like Pietie knew the marks until decca navigators changed all that.
Regards,
BTTB.

 

[kraken]

Hi BTTB

Yeah, you may well be correct there about the fish on the 45's! A lot of that fish was deep and I was'nt in the wheelhouse to take note of numbers. I just remember it being the best line fishing I'd ever experienced. Was also the first time I ever saw marlin smashing skipjack. I'd fished with some of Stevens crew in Kalk Bay when I lived there and was told that instead of the usual 100m of line on the hasper, it would be better to rather put on 200m due to the depth of some of those marks. Was also warned not to stuff around trying to get hooks out of a just boated steenbras but rather cut the line and tie on a new on a new hook, carry on fishing and wait for the fish to die. Those teeth!

Steven had quite a few marks, and most produced steenbras. I also heard about the 74's that used to be caught there when speaking to Kenny Kingma.

I have a feeling that some of those deeper banks are closed to line fishing but may be wrong. Will ask some of the old salts when I go to De Hoop early next month.

I think the bigger deckboats had more success due to being able to stay out in bad weather. One of the Portuguese skippers I fished with used to go up that way and catch big yellowfin which used to come onto the banks at certain times. They also filled up and often came back with a deckload. Apparently used to be hell on the crew though and I've heard some hair raising stories of broken planks and bruised bodies! lol!
Problem was that they never got nearly the same price for the fish that they do now. I might be biased seeing as I married a Portuguese girl, but those Porras know their tuna!

 

 

[strandwolf]

both you are right in your statements and this is where the problem come in and DAFF do not regonize this. pre 2000 allocations the playing field was so to say open as you had the A and B licences aswell as the deckboat fleet.

now when you attend DAFF meeting regarding the sudden collapse of the fish after 1999, the scientist openly try to convince you the fish are gone as the landings prove this. if you look at their graph you will bel;ieve this. what they do not tell you is that 3000 linefish stats is not submitted anymore. the whole of the deckboat fleet lost their rights = no stats, from cape infanta the choice was given linefish or hake. at the time hake prices was sky high and most linefishers decided on hake, hereby limiting their cob and cape salmon catches. from infanta to cape town most of the community based vessels lost their rights as well so the stats of local specie catches went down in the blink of an eye. the fact is that from 1999 the fishers submitted no more stats as this would be illegal catches for the rights were lost.

then on the other hand a lot of rights were granted to persons that entered new. ie a fisher get a right of 500kg lobster, but to harvest this he takes 18 days. we on the other hand harvest an average of 500kg per day, so now the scientist think lobster is bad as the man took 18 days to harvest.

then the curent snoek fleet, most came after 1994, left jobs bought cape crafts and can only catch snoek and sometimes yellowtail with the odd geelbek. again no stats from the other species so no fish.

the fact is that the fish is there but we are not allowed to catch them and the scientist do not want to come and see for themselves. ask andre waggies as he is in struisbaai about the coppers. how many times have nature proven the scientist wrong. back in 1999 MCM declared openly only 98 ton of cape salmon remain in our waters, so 3 weeks later Hannes from Willehans got stuck into them, then the fleet and by Feb more than 300ton was landed and now years later still being caught. squid boats report shoals miles long of cape salmon on the east coast.

yesterday we took a look at a trawl bycatch a friend bought 2 tons. the cob not much larger as a big sardine 5 to 6 makes 1kg, say 4 uncutted. thats 8000 cob for 3 days work and what about those dumped that we do not know of. do your calculations who and what is killing the fish before it gets to our shores.

 

[Brett Jacobs]

Very interesting reading here Strandwolf, Kacker and BTTB oh and you too JB2.

Gives one food for thought.

Cracker (Kraken) what I wouldnt give for some of your experiences!!

 

[Brett Jacobs]

Very interesting reading here Strandwolf , Cracker , BTTB and JB2

Gives one food for thought.

Cracker (Kraken) what I wouldnt give for some of your experiences???

Oh and Porras rule I grew up amongst them in Little Madeira ( University Estate ) and some of my mates are still skippering the fathers boats.

 

[BTTB]

Hi strandwolf

Valuable and valid input, thanks.
I have personally been out the fishing game for 20 years to actually know what is the current situation and what you say makes complete sense. I am unaware of all these stats and graphs, but statistics would be a Scientists way of displaying the data they have and as you have pointed out the data is actually skewed when it comes to line fish, especially along the east coast in the deep as there are no boats working those banks that we know about or at least would submit catch statistics as it would be illegal to catch that fish there.
There is huge effort since 1994 in catching Snoek by ski boats. The rest of the larger fishing fleet comprises mainly Chokka, Hake, Tuna, Crayfish as everyone was forced to choose a fishery and they chose mainly those. I think most of the line fishing guys that I knew chose Chokka in PE as their preference. Here and there some had Hake and Crayfish as well, but as far as I know there is no deck boats working the East Coast as such and that seems to be the case for about 10 years or so as you suggest.
Theoretically there should be lots of fish on those banks then?
In the back of your mind you are concerned that foreign trawlers might be raping those banks like they did back in the heyday of the National Party when they were given concessions to bobbin trawl that coast, even the Twelve Mile Bank was trawled. If ever such an effort was condoned by our Government it should be exposed for what it is.

It would be really interesting to talk to the old East Coast veterans like Stephen Noble, Kenny Kingma, Hennie, Pietie Dreyer, Ronnie Whiting and few others that spent many seasons fishing that coast and hear what they have to say. I am sure some of them must have "held reim" over those old marks out of nosy or for the purpose of catching a fry in the last 10 years.

It is sad that the public cannot see the wholesale slaughter of fish on the outside under the pretence of bycatches. I don't suspect that situation to change soon. People can only see what is in front of them and currently they see a net full of baby cob on a beach.

Cheers.
BTTB.

 

[jb2]

BTTB wrote:

There is huge effort since 1994 in catching Snoek by ski boats.

Hi BTTB

Please don't take me amiss at the constant corrections. If I seem pedantic then I apologise in advance.

There was a huge reduction in effort since the 1998 Act and the attendant 2001 and 2005 allocations.

The effort reduction was extensive and had the effect of reducing both the number of vessel and their characteristics.

The "Elder Statesmen" that you mentioned used to fish on bigger freezer vessels.

At present no vessel over 10m is allowed to fish in the handline sector. No freezer boats are allowed.

The effort overall has reduced but there seems to be "effort migration" to snoek and sharks.

 

[BTTB]

Hi jb2

Please feel free to correct.
I stated it has been 20 years since I caught a fish commercially and a lot has changed in that period.

Regards,
BTTB.

 

[kraken]

BTTB wrote:

Hi jb2

Please feel free to correct.
I stated it has been 20 years since I caught a fish commercially and a lot has changed in that period.

Regards,
BTTB.

I could'nt agree more! I'll probably get shot down for saying this, but really, if you're not a big operator in the industry these days then perhaps ones ship has sailed!
@jb2, I was always under the impression that tuna pole rights holders are also able to catch snoek.
Indeed, just last year I know of numerous boats in excess of 10m and with freezers on board that got stuck into the masses of snoek off our coast.

 

[Captain Haddock]

Strandwolf, is it not Kenny Kingma who was granted one of the 'interim relief' licences at Simonstown? That is my understanding.

This is also interesting, as the justification used by Maxwell Moss and the ANC fishing desk to pressure the authorities to reopen the area was to allow starving, traditional, racially oppressed trek fishers to 'put food on the table'. I dont think Kenny Kingma is starving, he already holds the Smits licence and a quota in Kalk Bay apparently.

What is also interesting in this thread, is that the true economics of a trek licence in False Bay has not been discussed, especilly by you Mr Strandwolf. I watched the Simonstown crew trek 3 tonnes of yellowtail in one pull last season, 3000kg x a conservative R25/kilo = R75,000...not bad for twenty minutes work. Food on the table indeed. And how much goes to the crew?? And then there is the bycatch and undersized fish. I have watched numerous treks on Strandfontein and EVERY time undersize and illegal fish are taken.

The reality is that both trekkers and recreationals abuse the regulations, but if we look at cost vs return then the contribution to the Western Cape economy by the thousands of recreationals in terms of licences, bait, tackle, accommodation, etc for what is often meagre returns exceeds the value to the economy of the trekkers by millions.

Recreationals, and especially those who do comply with the laws, are left wondering why a few connected and vocal serial poachers with a tendency to play the race card at the drop of a hat, be allowed to plunder with impunity. The social benefit of trekking is zero, except to an elite few, but the environmental damage enormous. It is simple maths.

Finally, generations ago there may well have been enough fish in the sea to support trekkers, commercials and everyone else in False Bay. Times have changed, any skipper will tell you that, and we need to change with them.

 

[jb2]

Captain Haddock wrote:

Strandwolf, is it not Kenny Kingma who was granted one of the 'interim relief' licences at Simonstown? That is my understanding.

This is also interesting, as the justification used by Maxwell Moss and the ANC fishing desk to pressure the authorities to reopen the area was to allow starving, traditional, racially oppressed trek fishers to 'put food on the table'. I dont think Kenny Kingma is starving, he already holds the Smits licence and a quota in Kalk Bay apparently.

What is also interesting in this thread, is that the true economics of a trek licence in False Bay has not been discussed, especilly by you Mr Strandwolf. I watched the Simonstown crew trek 3 tonnes of yellowtail in one pull last season, 3000kg x a conservative R25/kilo = R75,000...not bad for twenty minutes work. Food on the table indeed. And how much goes to the crew?? And then there is the bycatch and undersized fish. I have watched numerous treks on Strandfontein and EVERY time undersize and illegal fish are taken.

The reality is that both trekkers and recreationals abuse the regulations, but if we look at cost vs return then the contribution to the Western Cape economy by the thousands of recreationals in terms of licences, bait, tackle, accommodation, etc for what is often meagre returns exceeds the value to the economy of the trekkers by millions.

Recreationals, and especially those who do comply with the laws, are left wondering why a few connected and vocal serial poachers with a tendency to play the race card at the drop of a hat, be allowed to plunder with impunity. The social benefit of trekking is zero, except to an elite few, but the environmental damage enormous. It is simple maths.

Finally, generations ago there may well have been enough fish in the sea to support trekkers, commercials and everyone else in False Bay. Times have changed, any skipper will tell you that, and we need to change with them.

Hi Captain Haddock

A lot of your information is incorrect.

The interim relief is at "Klein Vishoek (Glencairn).

We still have to get past the fact that the yellowtail stock has rebounded nicely.

2011 has been a bit of anomaly. Snoek fishermen around Lamberts are making yellowtail trips. 2009-2010 was quite a good season for yellowtail.

 

[jb2]

Hi Kraken

Yup, the pole boats are allowed to catch snoek but they don't usually go after it.

They have had snoek since at least 1985.

 

[Captain Haddock]

Hi JB2

I spoke directly to a trekker at Simonstown, which was also only opened this past season to trekkers again after a 9 year ban (due to poaching of steenbras, apparently) and he informed us that they had been granted an interim relief permit, so if my info is wrong then he is confused?

I know Klein Vishoek is different, I actually thought it was near Mackerel Beach on the left of the Gun Battery? I have never seen trekkers operate at Glencairn itself.

Yes, yellowtail stocks may have rebounded, but is this not due to the ban on netting omn the Aghulas banks? In any event, this season has been terrible from the shore in False Bay and recreational boats have also had a poor season.

Regards
captain

 

[jb2]

Captain Haddock wrote:

Hi JB2

I spoke directly to a trekker at Simonstown, which was also only opened this past season to trekkers again after a 9 year ban (due to poaching of steenbras, apparently) and he informed us that they had been granted an interim relief permit, so if my info is wrong then he is confused?

I know Klein Vishoek is different, I actually thought it was near Mackerel Beach on the left of the Gun Battery? I have never seen trekkers operate at Glencairn itself.

Yes, yellowtail stocks may have rebounded, but is this not due to the ban on netting omn the Aghulas banks? In any event, this season has been terrible from the shore in False Bay and recreational boats have also had a poor season.

Regards
captain

Hi Captain

Kingma is not involved in the interim relief. The interim relief is supposed to be for the crew of Albertyn, Achmat and Cotton.

You are quite correct that these crews had been implicated in heavy overcatches of white steenbras.

You are also spot on that the decline of yellowtail was probably linked to the purse seining of yellowtail around Agulhas.  Since the purse seining was stopped about 20 or 30 years ago the stock has come back.

This makes the preoccupation with trekked yellowtail a bit of a red herring.

I added "Glencairn" in brackets to show that it is between Fish Hoek and Simons Town and not part of Fish Hoek itself.

Regards

jb2