Tag Archives: DAFF

Weekly Press Review – 7 June 2013

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In the news this week a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) and the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC). The memorandum opens collaboration between the two port authorities in infrastructure development, engineering, training and marine services and allows for sharing of expertise with the idea of paving the way for South African companies to use the port of Maputo as an extension of the Transnet network.

Casualty news is that another stricken vessel is heading to our shores this week. The Tristan da Cuhna supply ship, the Edinburgh, developed difficulties last week about 1000 nautical miles west of Cape Town and is being escorted back to Cape Town by the Smit Amandla salvage tug.

Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has made the headlines again this week after President Jacob Zuma made the decision to transfer some of the minister’s powers and functions to Edna Molewa, Minister of Environmental and Water Affairs. The changes relate particularly to powers and functions of the ministers under the Marine Living Resources Act.

It would seem that even the president is now aware that Minster Joemat-Pettersson needs a little help.

Judith Sole is back in the news this week with another appearance before the Western Cape High Court. She is now asking for the full suspension of rock lobster fishing for up to 10 years. Alternatively, she would like to see the suspension of all commercial rock lobster fishing.

Although Sole’s efforts are admirable, one must bear in mind that 2500 rights holders would be drastically affected by such a ruling. Surely an open discussion between Ms Sole, the rights holders and the respondents in the case, Tina Joemat-Pettersson and Greta Apelgren-Narkadien, former fisheries deputy director, to see where changes could be made to protect all those involved, including the rock lobster, would be more beneficial.

Speaking at the African Marine Debris Summit in Kirstenbosch this week, Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi raised concerns about the ever-increasing amount of waste making its way to our oceans. With continued economic growth in Africa, waste management is becoming a critical issue.

Marine debris has a negative impact on health, tourism and is responsible for the deaths of many sea creatures. “Africa must not join the rest of the world using the sea as a dumping area for its waste material,” said the minister.

Let us hope that a solution can be found … and quickly.

Weekly Press Review – 24 May 2013

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The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and the country’s marine patrol vessels are back in the press this week as the government toys with idea of taking responsibility for the vessels away from DAFF completely and handing it to the Department of Transport’s SA Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA).

According to a senior shipping source, the idea behind the move would be to place the patrol ships under a department with marine safety responsibilities and disaster management expertise. The question is whether a body tasked with implementing safety standards on vessels should necessarily be owning vessels themselves.

Although this makes sense from a safety perspective, where does the responsibility for research then lie?

According to another article in the press, more and more novices are being drawn into the world of perlemoen poaching. Recently police have made a number of arrests in areas such as Khayelitsha and Nyanga, areas not traditionally associated with perlemoen poaching. According to Shaheen Moolla, chief executive of the marine research company Feike, “The reality is that poaching in these areas has been on the increase for some time.”

Carol Moses of DAFF added that, “Poaching is not an isolated criminal activity and poachers often work in association with illegal drug dealers and other organised crime elements.”

The result is that the poaching of our country’s perlemoen now needs to be addressed from many different angles and a unified, co-operative front will need to be established if there is any hope of seeing our perlemoen 30 years from now.

Also making news this week was the open letter to Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. A group of academics from UCT, the University of the Western Cape, the Oceanographic Institute and Rhodes University, as well as the World Wild Life Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Masifundise Development Trust have written a letter to the Minister calling for an extension to the time given for public feedback on important upcoming legislation. The public was initially given six weeks to comment on the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill, but this was subsequently cut to three weeks.

We wait to hear her response – if there is one.

Weekly Press Review – 10 May 2013

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The big news of the week this week is the announcement by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) that Desmond Stevens will take over as acting head of the fisheries department after Greta Apelgren-Narkedien stepped down last month. The department is now in the process of appointing a permanent head of fisheries.

We wait with bated breath.

The Paternoster fishing community has made the news this week with a plea to the government to increase their crayfish quotas and ease regulations. During a meeting held in Paternoster with DA parliamentarian Pieter van Dalen, fishermen stated that their concerns had largely been ignored over the past seven years.

Peter Coraizen, representing small-scale fishermen on the local council, said that fishermen generally earn less than R500 per week, resulting in their children leaving their studies to join their parents in an attempt to increase family revenue.

The quota system offers no easy solutions and it is almost impossible to please all the parties involved, but it would be nice to see the small-scale fishing community taken care of more appropriately.

In a follow up to last week’s story regarding the arrested vessel, the E Whale, and the crew stranded aboard. The Taiwanese bank that owns the vessel has agreed to take responsibility for the wages of the crew until such date as the vessel is sold.

Good news for the crew and nice to see a financial institution stepping up and doing the right thing.

Weekly Press Review – 3 May 2013

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The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has made the headlines again this week regarding the country’s patrol and research vessels. Cape Town based company Nautic South Africa has won a six month contract with DAFF to run the fleet – a service that has seen its fair share of controversy over the last 18 months.

The announcement was made by Nautic and not the department.

James Fisher, chief executive of Nautic, said that the company was aware that they would be holding a bit of a ‘hot potato’ given the controversy around the vessels, but believed that what was needed was “a practical and pragmatic approach to get the vessels working and out to sea. Our approach is to solve the problems as soon as possible.”

Let us hope that these words can be put into action.

On the subject of DAFF, Greta Apelgren-Narkadien is no longer with the fisheries branch. After just five months in the position, Apelgren-Narkadien has left the post to take up the position of head of human settlements in Kwazulu-Natal.

The vessel the E Whale also made the headlines this week. More than a year after being arrested, due to financial issues surrounding her sister ship, A Whale, the vessel sits about 3km from shore with crew members trapped aboard for up to four months at a time.

Needless to say there are wage disputes and the only way for funds to be recouped would be to sell the vessel, which is in itself not a quick process. Until that happens, the crew have no choice but to remain aboard.

What a terrible situation for the crew who obviously have nothing to do with the financial woes of the owners, Today Makes Tomorrow International, and want nothing more than to be paid for a job that they have already done and get home to their families. Let’s hope that this situation can be solved as quickly as possible.

Weekly Press Review – 5 April 2013

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South Africa’s patrol and research vessels are back in the news this week with the signing of a contract between the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and Damen Shipyards Cape Town for “emergency and urgent vessel repairs and maintenance.”

When questioned about the condition of the vessels, Gary Atkins, service and repairs manager at Damen, said that the ships were not damaged as such, but were merely suffering from a general lack of maintenance which has led to them “going out of class.”

The vessels need to meet the sea-worthy requirements of the SA Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the ship’s insurers. The repairs will take place at Simon’s Town naval dockyard, using Damen staff and equipment only at an estimated cost of R5 million.

Now that Damen is on board, let us hope that these vessels can be repaired quickly and finally get back to the job that they are supposed to be doing: patrol and research.

Weekly Press Review – 15 March 2013

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Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) is back in the news this week. This time the minister is being sued by Sue Middleton, chief director of fisheries operations, for defamation of character after she allegedly made statements to the press saying that Middleton had been found guilty of financial mismanagement. Middleton is suing for R1 million.

The minister claims that the statements she made were ‘substantially true’ and were published in the public interest.

‘Substantially true’ sounds a little suspect already. It will be interesting to see how this case unfolds in the media.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has this week made large inroads to slow the illegal trade in shark fins. The illegal trade of sharks is driven primarily by the huge demand for fin soup in Asia. Passing with a two thirds majority CITES has ensured that fins may be bought and sold only if the trade is certified sustainable.

At last, some action to protect our sea life. Perhaps South Africa’s abalone will make the cut next time.

A simulated maritime disaster also made the papers as ‘Operation Beachy’, took place in Table Bay this week. Authorities simulated an emergency evacuation of a passenger liner which had run aground.

For the purposes of the exercise, 23 organisations were called to action as the SA Navy frigate, the SAS Spioenkop, played the role of the stricken vessel. And what a stricken vessel: the simulation involved the vessel floundering with no engine power due to an explosion in the engine room; the captain incapacitated due to a heart attack and several passengers burned and injured.

Let us hope that the appropriate people received the appropriate training and gained the required skills needed to handle this kind of emergency, otherwise the renaming of the SAS Spioenkop during exercise as the ‘Costa Lot’ would certainly best describe the exercise.

Hopefully making its last appearance in the press this week is the Seli 1. After four years, the SA Navy, financed by the Department of Transport to the tune of R20 million, will complete the last of the explosions this week designed to finally collapse the vessel, allowing what remains to sink to the seabed and be dispersed by the winter ocean currents.

Full diary: warning – event ahead!

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The maritime industry seems to have suddenly woken up and started some vigourous planning for the next couple of weeks. While some events have been a long time in the offing – others seem to have simply sprung up on the calendar.

THE BOSBERAAD

Last week the National Department of Transport (NDoT) surprised maritime stakeholders with an invitation to a Maritime Bosberaad in Pretoria. Hosted jointly by the NDoT, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the Ports Regulator – it seems that the last minute invitation may have influenced the actual attendance register on the day.

It’s a pity really since the Minister of Transport was due to provide the keynote address. Sadly, with only a day’s notice, I did not make it up to Pretoria and will have to rely on the industry for some feedback. I would be especially interested to know what the ANC Youth League’s contribution amounted to.

CRUISING ALONG

Then the rather active and community-spirited maritime sectors in Durban took the initiative to host a Maritime Conference on the MSC Sinfonia. Featuring a rather modest price-tag of only R5000 (all inclusive), this certainly sounds as if a real effort was made to make it as inclusive as possible.

HEAD’S UP FOR THE HIGH SEAS

We’ve been watching the establishment of the Global Ocean Commission since its launch last month and were particularly interested to learn that, not only is Trevor Manuel a Co-chair of the Commission, but South Africa (Cape Town) is hosting their inaugural meeting.

Some follow-up revealed that they would be in Cape Town this week, but that media would not be accommodated at any sessions and nothing had been planned to include us. So – once again it was with surprise that an invitation to a press briefing landed in our inbox late yesterday requesting our presence at a briefing this morning.

The lack of availability of the local press eventually saw this moved to a later date – and one that will take into account the work undertaken during this week by the international heads scheduled to participate.

(Follow our tweets on this topic on @GreenMarineSA – we will use the #GlobalOcean)

BREAKING THE CONTACT FAST

Heavily criticised for not engaging enough with the top levels of the fishing industry, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, is scheduled to share breakfast with CEO’s from this sector tomorrow morning.

I will attend the press briefing DAFF has scheduled following this gathering to hear first hand how the relationship has been strengthened.

(Follow our tweets on this topic on @MaritimeSA – we will use the #DAFFFast)

CEMENTING THE MARITIME BRICS AGENDA

I must admit I have been waiting for a long time for the local South African maritime industry to start talking meaningfully around this topic and am pleased that the initiative has been taken to break-away from next week’s BRICS sessions in this regard.

With a full calendar and a host of public holidays to contend with, organisers elected to host this on a Sunday and I hope that the date does not deter too many stakeholders.

Once again the Minister of Transport, Ben Dikobe Martins, is on the schedule and panel discussions should provide for a lively platform if they are accurately populated.

(Follow our tweets on this topic on @MaritimeSA – we will use the #maritimeBRICS)

MEETING TO DISCUSS AFRICAN MARITIME ECONOMY

The African maritime agenda is key to most conferences and events this year and the Nautical Institute (Southern African Branch) is meeting in association with a number of other key local professional associations to discuss this.

So with an Easter breather between this event and the BRICS sessions; the maritime industry will reassemble in Cape Town to debate the challenges facing the African Maritime economy.

(Follow our tweets on this topic on @MaritimeSA – we will use the #NauticalInstituteSA)

R&R ON THE GOLF COURSE

After all these cerebral outings, however, some sectors of the maritime industry are blocking out a Friday to chase a little white ball around in Stellenbosch. We’ll be there to sponsor one of the holes, take a few photos and relax with you after a hectic couple of weeks.

(Follow our tweets on this topic on @MaritimeSA – we will use the #MaritimeGolfDay)

GET YOUR EVENT ON THE RADAR

So if you are planning anything else in the maritime industry – put it on our radar and we’ll make sure that it becomes more than just a blip

Weekly Press Review – 1 March 2013

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‘The world’s greatest living explorer’, 68 year-old Sir Ranulph Fiennes has arrived safely back in Cape Town after a lengthy evacuation process from Antarctica. Fiennes, who is suffering from severe frostbite after attempting to adjust a ski binding without gloves on, is said to be ‘extremely disappointed’ at having to give up his quest to be the first to cross the world’s coldest continent in winter.

The Coldest Journey is, however, not over. The five remaining team members will continue with the expedition and hope to begin the crossing on March 21, led by Brian Newham.

One cannot help but think that perhaps the ‘world’s greatest living explorer’ should have known better that to remove his gloves while in the field.

Greta Apelgren-Narkedien is back in the news this week with the announcement that the fisheries department has committed to heeding the scientific advice presented this year for the the reduction of rock lobster quotas in the next financial year. She believes that this that revised quota will give the rock lobster population time to rebuild.

This same scientific advice regarding quotas was disregarded last year.

What is the point of employing, and presumably paying, scientist for their valuable input and then simply ignoring it? Surely this situation cannot be allowed to continue..