GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The interdict application of the Friends of Tsitsikamma Association to stop recreational fishing in the Tsitsikamma National Park was not heard in the Pretoria High Court on Friday.
"According to the court, the case was not deemed an urgent matter and we were sent back. We are saddened by the outcome," said Friends of Tsitsikamma spokesperson, Judy Mann-Lang, a conservation strategist for the SA Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR).
The Friends are fighting the opening up of four zones in the Tsitsikamma marine reserve to registered fishermen from the Tsitsikamma and Koukamma municipal area. Department of Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa announced that the opening of these areas in the marine protected area was to serve as a "test phase" for her proposed regulations in this regard.
Mann-Lang said their battle is about fairness and due process, since SANPanparks and the DEA opened the reserve for recreational fishing before allowing completion of the period of public consultation specified in the Government Gazette.
The Gazette, proposing the opening of the reserve was put out for comment on 19 November, and comments only close on 1 February 2016. "The decision to open the reserve, therefore, makes a mockery of the Government's own legal processes and preempts the outcome of the public consultation process.
"Every day that the marine reserve is open to fishing, fish will be killed and within a short space of time we will have lost what has taken so many years to reach natural, undisturbed levels of fish abundance. Remember that some of the fish species live for over 30 years. If they are killed it will take another 30 years before they are replaced with fish of a similar age and size."
She said catching in the reserve will effectively result in fewer fish being caught outside the reserve because of reduced seeding of fish eggs and larvae.
The Friends of Tsitsikamma have not given up the fight. "We have lost a battle, but not the war. We remain committed to challenging what was blatantly an illegal action on the part of Sanparks and DEA. Our legal team is giving us advice on the next step. Our concern is not only for the fish in Tsitsikamma, but the precedent that this decision will set for all other reserves."
ARTICLE: ALIDA DE BEER, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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