Creecy extends West Coast Rock Lobster fishing season

Creecy extends West Coast Rock Lobster fishing season

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), Barbara Creecy, in consultation with the relevant officials, has requested the deputy director-general responsible for Fisheries Management, Sue Middelton, to grant a short extension of the Nearshore West Coast Rock Lobster fishing season from April 15 to 19.

According to a press statement, the extension is in recognition of the extreme adverse weather conditions experienced in the Western Cape over the past week.

“I received a number of urgent verbal and written requests from the small-scale fishing cooperatives that were particularly hard hit by the extreme weather conditions, preventing them from catching their full allocations,” said Creecy.

The Public Notice, granting the extension, was issued by the Department on Friday, April 12, and will be communicated to the Chairpersons of the Western Cape Small-scale cooperatives and the Nearshore Commercial right holders.

“It should also be noted that Fisheries Management has already granted an exemption to allow for fishing over this coming weekend of April 13 and 14,” Creecy concluded.

Parts of the Western Cape experienced heavy downpours and high winds which prompted the South African Weather Service to issue level 9 warnings for extreme and potentially damaging weather.

The recreational West Coast Rock Lobster season opened on December 16, 2023 and closed on April 1, 2024 with the fishing limited to 12 days between these dates.

Considering the WWF judgement in the Cape High Court in September 2018, the DFFE reduced the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the 2023/2024 season by 16.43% from the previous fishing season.

“The harvesting of West Coast Rock Lobster at levels which do not facilitate growth of the resource is contrary to the judgement and constitutes a threat of serious and irreversible environmental damage. In projecting how resource abundance would be influenced by reductions in TAC and limitation of the TAE, a TAC of 460 tons for the 2023/2024 season has been determined,” the DFFE said.

IOL