Weekly Press Review – 18 May 2012

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Media attention this week turned to Clifton where the 50m, Eihatse Maru ran aground with 40 tons of frozen tuna and between 90 and 110 tons of fuel onboard.

By this morning, due to various difficulties, from the inability to attach properly to tow ropes breaking (twice) to no swell, the vessel was still firmly nestled at First beach.  Fifty tons of fuel has been removed from the vessel as a precaution and Dave Colly of SAMSA  says that ‘they are restructuring the back to make it strong enough to pull’ and some rough weather is heading our way which will help to lift the vessel.  Atlatech and Smit Amandla are assisting.

The vessel ran aground in darkness and thick fog early on Saturday morning.  Media reports relate how a witness tried to raise the alarm by contacting the port authority, but was instructed to contact the police. Perhaps better staff training at the port authority could have prevented this maritime mishap or at least allowed the salvage operation to get underway quickly and efficiently? Food for thought.

At this point the stern of the vessel has been strengthened and the plan is to tow her out to sea today.  Let us hope that the third time is the charm. (The vessel was removed successfully late Friday afternoon)

PS.  The captain’s dog Alley/Ali is still onboard and doing well.

Thankfully the press also picked up on some good news from the maritime industry and devoted a few inches of space to the commendable achievements of Lawhill Maritime Centre. A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to the Lawhill Maritime Studies programme in Simon’s Town, headed by Brian Ingpen.  The programme has been awarded the international Seatrade Investment in People award.

Brian, who has long been a shining light in maritime education, accepted the award in London on Monday.  It was awarded in recognition of the programme which helps provide young people with maritime-related skills while they are still at school.

Congratulations Brian and Lawhill!  Lovely to see all your hard work recognised and rewarded.

Recognising a different type of Maritime Master

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In what can only be described as “long overdue” one of our own maritime champions was recognised for his contribution to maritime education at the Seatrade Awards dinner in London last night. While technically it was the Lawhill Maritime Centre that received the Investment in People award – Brian Ingpen is synonymous with the success of the centre and has instilled a passion for the maritime industry, respect, discipline and a set of uncompromising values in South African youth over the many years that Simons Town High School has offered Maritime Studies as a Matric subject.

My involvement with the industry goes back almost two decades and in that time Brian Ingpen has always been a prominent supporter of all maritime matters. His quiet, dignified persona is as much a part of our maritime legacy as the many legends that helped shape the South African maritime landscape. His uncompromising ability to see to the reality of all things maritime makes him an ideal commentator, educator and friend of the industry.

But it is the work that he does in Simonstown at the High School and within the Lawhill Maritime Centre that is truly remarkable. His learners (past and present) are noticeable and notable in the industry; and every year when I leave his annual Awards evening I am moved by the respect they have for him as well as the industry that they are hoping to enter.

Honestly there are few in the maritime as well as the education sector that can say they are leading our youth and championing our future maritime leaders to the same degree as Mr Brian Ingpen.

Congratulations Brian; it is an honour to have you on our editorial team and to witness what you are doing at the Lawhill Maritime Centre.

 

Weekly Press Review – 11 May 2012

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The media scrutiny associated with patrol and research vessels continues and this week the SA Deep Sea Trawling Industry Association is in trouble with Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson (who isn’t), who has accused the association of ‘fronting’ for Smit Amandla Marine by allowing the company to carry out research on the SAS Africana last month.  Secretary of the association, Roy Bross responded by saying that Smit had been asked to provide staff purely to ensure that the research could take place on time.  ‘We only wanted to help.’

The minister was back in the news later in the week with a little drama at the Cape Town Press Club.  Over the years, many politicians have addressed the Cape Town Press Club, including Jacob Zuma, Helen Zille, Tokyo Sexwale and many others.  In that time no politician has ever taken issue with the club’s membership – until now.  Minister Joemat-Pettersson protested speaking at a press club breakfast because of the presence of DA MP Pieter van Dalen, saying that if one political party was represented then others should be too. (Was that really the reason for her objection?)

Her sentiments were backed by ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu, who said that the ANC was disturbed by the fact that a public representative of a political party was a member of the club.

The club responded by saying that it was the oldest and most active press club in South Africa and was committed to a democratic South Africa where ‘equality and free speech is respected, protected and defended.’

Me thinks she does protest too much …… again.

And now, False Bay, we have a problem.  A Chilean-owned cargo ship which experienced engine failure off our coast and was too big to berth in Cape Town harbour was given permission by SAMSA to anchor in False Bay while she was repaired. She’s now making newspaper headlines as journalists pick up on the plight of the crew.

One of SAMSA’s conditions was that a tug be on permanent standby as a precaution while the vessel was in the environmentally sensitive bay as the owners believe there is a ‘real chance of environmental damage.’  Unfortunately, the tug is there at a cost of about R235 800 per day; the bills are mounting and the creditors are lining up.  The insurers, Swedish Club have said that they will pull their cover for wreck removal and oil pollution by month end, and the owners have no money.  So who is now responsible?

It looks as if we are heading the way of the Seli 1 incident, where everyone just walked away and South Africans were left to foot the bill for the ships removal.  Also let us not forget the poor crew stranded on the ‘dead vessel’:  little food, little water and I’m sure very little morale.

Finally, the results are in:  The Oliver Empowerment Awards winners have been announced, recognising 16 local companies and individuals for their efforts towards Black Economic Empowerment and tranformation.

Congraulations to SAMSA and Dormac for their accomplishments.  You make the industry proud.

A pressing comment

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Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Pieter van Dalen, has stepped up to the pulpit largely created by the likes of fisheries commentator, Shaheen Moolla over recent months. On Friday he was once again catapulted into the media spotlight when he was asked to leave the Press Club meeting due to be addressed by none other than DAFF Minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson.

The debate that has ensued has been interesting as have the comments made by the Minister during the briefing.

While I support the quest that Van Dalen has  undertaken to make the minister accountable to her constituency as defined by the Department’s title, and I support his right to be at the meeting as a member of the Press Club – I do wonder at the legitimacy of a Press Club’s constitution that opens its membership to unrelated sectors.

As a member of the media I do not (and cannot) belong to professional industry clubs for accountants, doctors or the like; and I wonder if politicians take an equal interest in joining such professional clubs.

And so my take on the whole affair:

Minister Joemat-Pettersson should probably have anticipated the (political and media) uproar that was going to follow her demands to have Pieter van Dalen removed and would have come out smelling sweeter than the perlemoen she keeps accumulating for the Department had she just got on with it. Let’s face it – any question that Van Dalen was likely to ask, the press had already got waiting for her anyway.

Pieter van Dalen as a member of the Press Club had every right to be there. Whether the Press Club should open their doors to politicians is an entirely different debate and one which should probably be addressed. His decision to leave can be considered political gesturing for the sake of the media, but at the end of the day it  was really probably  the only logical decision he could make.

The Press Club should reconsider their constitution in terms of membership criteria. Ironically – although currently not a member of the Cape Town Press Club – this incident has made me reconsider this decision.

The comments made by the minister are not the topic of this blog, but certainly worth following up on by both journalists and politicians, irrespective of their membership to any professional clubs! We should all be pressing on to ensure that the current questions surrounding the minister’s leadership of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are fully answered.

Weekly Press Review – 4 May 2012

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The local media has been swept up in a wave of maritime fervour as more than one journalist seems to have expressed a deeply personal appreciation of the new SA Agulhas 2. A proud moment for all South Africans as the SA Agulhas arrived at the Table Bay harbour from the shipyards of Finland yesterday amid much fanfare.  But no traditional ceremony for this beautiful ship dedicated to the late Miriam Makeba; instead a truly African ‘christening’.  Minister of Environmental Affiairs, Edna Molewa ran the length of the ship with a small grass ‘broom’ sprinkling the ship with ubulawu or ‘dream foam’ as a sangoma shouted and sang nearby.  Not a sight you see everyday, but this is no everyday ship.

The Smit Amandla captain, Freddie Ligthelm, described the ship as a beefed-up version of the old Agulhas:  bigger, wider and stronger.  May she travel safe and make us proud.

On the perlemoen front, Doug Butterworth, the UCT mathematician responsible for the calculations of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, has been quoted in the media pointing out that  within 10 years there will be so few perlemoen left that poachers will basically be out of business.

At present, the total allowable catch is 150 tons and poachers are removing an estimated 1500 tons.  One does not have to be a mathematician to see that this equation is disastrous.

Earlier this week the city council announced that it would be moving into marine law enforcement in an attempt to combat the rapidly increasing perlemoen poaching around the peninsula.  A unit is to be established, tentatively named the Coastal and Marine Law Enforcement Unit which will work the length of the city’s 300km coastline.

Staff training is already underway and the city has put out a (dare I say the word) tender for an inshore patrol boat.  Let us hope we can all work together to try to put a stop to the poaching problem and protect our marine resources for future generations.

Despite the doom and gloom, some good news as the seven individuals who pleaded guilty to their roles in a perlemoen ring last week have been put behind bars.  The accused were sentenced to between four and 10 years.  Now that is a start.

Finally, there was much excitement at the naval dockyard in Simon’s Town last week as 33 year-old Handsome Thamsanqua Matsane became one of the youngest submariner commanders, officially taking charge of the SAS Queen Modjadji and saying that he had always wanted to work at sea.

Navy spokesman, Prince Tshabalala said that Matsane ‘is an inspiration to other young South Africans who want to join the navy.’  Congratulatiuons to Mr Matsane, let us hope that there will actually be something for him to do.

Weekly Press Review – 20 April 2012

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The tender war seems to have taken on a whole new dimension according to the latest newspaper reports. As if life on a marine research ship is not exciting enough, now that the navy has taken over the running of the fisheries vessels belonging to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the fisheries scientists will  go to sea on a warship.  They will be setting off on Monday.  Department spokesperson, Selby Bokaba said that the ship would be staffed by ‘the crew, navy as well as research personnel.’

At this point the department’s research ships are still registered as merchant vessels and, according to international law, are not allowed to be run by the military until they have been removed  from the merchant vessel register.  As of Wednesday afternoon none of the six department vessels had been removed.

Dave Colly of SAMSA said that he had written to the department two weeks ago regarding the matter, but had still received no response.  What can be taking so long?

In other reports, it would seem that maritime protected areas (MPA’s) are the new playground of the abalone poacher.  A Llandudno resident reported a poaching incident in a local marine sanctuary last week and a study carried out by Gregg Brill of Stellenbosch University revealed how a group of poachers have been stealing approximately 27 tons of abalone a year from the marine section of Table Mountain National Park.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.  His study also revealed that the number of abalone actually confiscated represented as little as 10 percent of all abalone poached.  It would appear that abalone poachers are getting away with murder and why are these ‘protected areas’ not being protected – oh wait perhaps it’s because our vessel assets are currently just decorating the Simons Town harbour!

By all means save our rhino, but let’s try to save our abalone too.

Weekly Press Review – 13 April 2012

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With the amount of maritime-related stories making the news this past week, it may well be that mass media has finally noticed that we are a maritime nation. Sad, however, is that fact that most of the headlines relate to negative associations.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson has once again rocked the fishing boat.  Information was leaked from a closed meeting between the minister and fisheries division staff where she allegedly said that she would take away the fishing rights of SA’s ‘Big Five’ fishing firms when they come up for review next year.  She allegedly stated that ‘white’ fishing companies needed to cede these rights to community fishermen.

These statements did nothing to please Chief executive of Feike, Shaheen Moolla, who points out that  the the big fishing companies are all black empowered, with at least 30 percent black ownership.

The interesting part of this story, however,  is that the minister apparently asked people in the meeting not to take notes or record her remarks.  Now why would she do that?

The navy also grabbed some column space this week as they hosted the Indian Oceans Naval Symposium. And the long finger of the media was not shy to point out some of their shortcomings.

At an operational cost of about R30 million per year, the submarine SAS Manthatisi has spent 18 months in service and an impressive 41 months out of service.  After questioning by IFP MP Albert Mncwango, Defense Minister Lindiwe Sisulu revealed that the vessel would be remaining on dry land for several  more months as it is awaiting a new battery to be delivered ‘later this year.’

The sub is apparently being used as a training and planning vessel in the mean time.  This seems like an extremely expensive training exercise.

Tomorrow (14 April 2012) marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and her fateful final voyage has been on the minds of many maritime buffs this month.  It would seem that everyone has a theory as to what caused the terrible accident so many years ago, but is it not time to let her rest in peace. Even as the movie Titanic is being released in 3-D it seems that this poor ship will continue to generate interest well beyond this 100-year milestone.

Weekly Press Review – 4 April 2012

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Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) made the news this week by promising minimal disruption with the temporary shutdown of Pier 2 at the Durban container terminal(DCT) for refurbishment of berths.  Over the next 74 months, TPT plans to divert 400 000 twenty-foot equivalent units of container traffic from the DCT to the RoRo and Maydon Wharf terminals at the port.

The terminal executive at RoRo and Maydon Wharf, Zeph Ndlovu, said, ‘ TPT has put considerable effort into ensuring it can deal with the increased container demand while berths at DCT … are out of service.’

Fingers crossed that everything runs smoothly.

Things not running that smoothly however are the  government’s eight research and patrol ships, worth about R1 billion each which are lined up in False Bay awaiting an uncertain future – even as the Navy takes them into their fold, despite media scrutiny around the legalities of the Navy running civilian ships.

The next Fisheries research trip, scheduled for April is now in jeopardy.  If  fisheries management is not based on science, South Africa stands to lose its Marine Stewardship Certification for hake.  Surely this cannot be allowed to happen?

In more bizarre news some poor surfers and residents at Muizenberg were upset  after treknet fishing led to a net full of fish being pulled onto the beach at the popular Surfer’s Corner, interrupting surfing and bathing.  The surfers would like the treknetting to take place ‘further down’, while the fishermen promise that they are being considerate to the surfers.

Is it really necessary to debate who the beach belongs to when one group are trying to create a livelihood to feed their families and the other group are …..  going for a surf.  Maybe the surfers could try to ‘go further down’?

Weekly Press Review – 23 March 2012

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The DAFF tender is still firmly entrenched in the headlines of the last week. It now looks like the navy could be asked to step in and secure our waters, while the battle between DAFF, Smit Amandla Marine and Sekunjalo continues.  The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries spokesman, Selby Bokaba, is giving nothing away, saying:  ‘I am unable to talk about the navy.  I have made it clear we are exploring various options.  Indeed there are more than two options available.’

According to Melanie Gosling, Environment writer for the Cape Times, South Africa stands to lose R1 billion and thousands of jobs within the fishing sector if the issues surrounding the tender to run the government’s fisheries vessels prevents this year’s research cruises from happening.  These vessels provide the data determining how many fish can be caught each year.

Decisions need to be made – and quickly.

Shaheen Moolla is in the press again this week responding to the opinion piece by Tina Joemat-Pettersson in the Cape Times last week.  The Minister’s feelings are certainly not spared as, once again, she is criticised for her proposed plan to move fisheries to Pretoria as well as her justification thereof.

While it is disconcerting to watch such a dismal saga unfold in the daily news – it is equally disconcerting to know that once again the maritime industry is shrouded in negative publicity when what it really needs is a massive PR boost to showcase it as the massive economic driver it actually is.  I’m not so sure that the dictum: all publicity is good publicity applies.

 

Weekly Press Review: 16 March 2012

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The Cape Times and other daily news portals have kept Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and her department firmly in the headlines this week.

She has been criticised for her planned relocation of the Marine and Coastal Management offices to Pretoria.  So many weighed in on the subject that the Minister herself  responded in the Cape Times offering her version of events and the ‘facts’ that support the reasoning behind the proposed move.

Me thinks she doth protest too much.

Further to the Sekunjalo tender confusion, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has turned the tables on Smit Amandla Marine,  who are now also being dragged through the mud due to accusations of conflicting interests and even possible charges of corruption that can apparently be lodged against the now non-existent Smit Pentow Marine.

It would seem that all those involved are keen only on how much mud can be slung and it is unlikely that this debacle will fade from media attention over the coming week. We look forward, however, to some real and responsible reporting from the mass media on this matter.