EDITOR – I want fishing permits for the Durban harbour.
There are a number of people that didn’t get a chance to apply for these permits and it is absolutely unfair. I buy my fishing licence every year whether I fish or not but I did not get a chance to apply for the permit and so have a lot of members in the Phoenix community. I need answers and my permit, no excuses.
Zunaid Gaffoor
Durban
Finola Quarsingh, communications officer from Transnet, replies: Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), Port of Durban has announced that the proposed re-opening of designated fishing areas within the harbour is still some weeks away.
The committee formed in December 2012, to create a platform for engagement and decision-making between TNPA and the Subsistence Fishers Forum, will determine when the official re-opening of the designated fishing areas in the Durban harbour will take place. One of the fishing areas open for consideration is the South Pier (south breakwater) at the foot of the Bluff. However, the North Pier and surrounding areas will not be open to the public.
In light of the positive and successful relations established within the committee, the permit application forms that have been distributed to the local fishing community are valid, but still need to be processed by the TNPA Permit Office before access permits can be granted.
The committee has been instrumental in formulating guidelines for these processes. The guidelines dictate that the first permit issue will be free, thereafter, any further issue within the permit’s validity will be charged as per the tariff model.
All ports within the South African Ports system, subscribe to the International Ship and Port Security Code and this code will remain in place at the Port of Durban despite fishermen being given limited access to the harbour in the near future.
