Coastal Links South Africa has submitted comments rejecting the proposed draft regulations of MPA’s. The regulations were published for public comment on the 3rd of February the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA).
Only a few fishing communities were focused on the MPA draft regulations, because most of them are currently focusing on the verification process of small-scale fishers, which is part of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ (DAFF) implementation of the small-scale fisheries policy. On the basis of the lack of public consultation with small-scale fishers, CLSA stated that the lack of meaningful consultation deprived small-scale fisher communities of the opportunity to engage around the new proposed MPA’s
“In line with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure in Land, Forestry and Fisheries in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT’s) endorsed by the 38th (Special) Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) on 11 May 2012, inclusive of our Government, the lack of meaningful consultation in this process from the proposed zonation to the spatial mapping has deprived us the opportunity to engage around these proposed MPA’s,” CLSA stated in their comments.
CLSA further said that the regulations fail to recognise and respect all legitimate tenure right holders and their rights; “Government should take reasonable measures to identify, record and respect legitimate tenure right holders and their rights, whether formally recorded or not; to refrain from infringement of tenure rights of others; and to meet the duties associated with tenure rights.”
The deadline for submitting comments was 17 May 2016.
Read CLSA comments here:CLSA DRAFT MPA REGULATIONS COMMENTS ww