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The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will embark on public consultations to discuss and explain the draft policies for the Allocation and Management of Medium-term Small-scale Commercial Fishing Rights and for the Allocation and Management of Medium-term Subsistence Fishing Rights which was gazetted on 17 November 2006 for public comment.
The two draft policies provide guidelines for the allocation and management of medium-term rights for both subsistence and small-scale commercial fisheries. The policy objectives are to: grant four (4)-year medium-term rights to persons who can demonstrate their historic and cultural dependency on marine living resources, ensure orderly and sustainable development of fisheries and environmental sustainability.
The implementation of the policies include a consultation process with participation from all stakeholders, an application process (verification), evaluation process and the issuing of medium-term rights for subsistence and small-scale commercial fishery sectors. Stock assessment of the resources will occur throughout the process. Catch monitoring data will be captured and analysed annually. This will inform the determination of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the following year.
The public consultations will start on 27 November - 14 December 2006 and will cover four coastal provinces starting from Port Nollorth on the North Coast to Northern KwaZulu-Natal. A detailed schedule of when the consultations will take place is available from any Fishery Inspectorate Office along the coast or from www.mcm-deat.gov.za or www.deat.gov.za . The two policies are also available on these two websites in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and isiZulu.
Interested and affected parties will have the opportunity to submit written comments on each policy to the Deputy Director General, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism: Branch Marine and Coastal Management Private Bag X2, Roggebaai, 8012 for Attention Sandile Sibiya. Written comments may be posted by registered mail to the above address; or faxed to (021) 402-3622; or emailed to subsistence@deat.gov.za and smallscale@deat.gov.za. Written comments must be received by the Department no later than 16h00 on MONDAY 18 DECEMBER 2006. Comments received after this time may not be considered.
Issued by Blessing Manale
Chief Director: Communications (Acting)
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
083 381 2939 or 012 310 3862
Visit our website: www.deat.gov.za
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