Ghost ships haunt Dolphin Coast

Reports from a wildlife officer and local fishermen and have confirmed an unaddressed threat in KwaZulu-Natal waters. The issue of illegal trawling is as destructive as it is invisible – unlicensed vessels netting varying species of fish by the tonne while the authorities remain largely unaware of the matter and uninspired to stop it.

“We do not have any statistics for illegal fishing,” said Benedict Nene, fisheries control manager at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

“We mainly rely on reports of suspicious activity from the public.”

Ballito fisherman Craig Harries said that he has seen illegal activity at sea and reported it to Ezemvelo, but the boats are always gone by the time they respond.

“I have heard many reports that they arrive at night, between 8pm and 10pm, leaving at around 4am,” said Mike Ferreira, marketing director at Kingfisher.

“A big difficulty is that most of the fishing takes place at night,” said Nene, which makes it challenging to locate vessels conducting illegal operations.

According to Nene, in order for Ezemvelo to respond they need to secure permission and back-up from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Navy in Pretoria, which slows down the response time by hours.

While there is a policy of cooperation between South African and Mozambican marine authorities when it comes to cases of illegal fishing, there is no extradition protocol between the two countries in place for arrested suspects, and nor is the law heavily enforced on the rare occasion a suspect is brought into custody.

Gan Moodley, marine biologist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), said that “perpetrators are in most cases levied minimal fines, if anything, and are permitted to continue their illicit and profitable activities.”

There is not enough of a legal incentive for illegal trawlers to be deterred and not enough money for government agencies to actively prosecute them.

Nene also said that the majority of illegal trawlers are either of Mozambican or Chinese origin, which makes them difficult to track once they cross into foreign waters.

The main problem is that an unknown number of unregistered trawling vessels are operating along the coastline without a permit and catching large volumes of fish they then sell overseas.

This not only depletes the stocks of fish in KwaZulu-Natal waters, but also threatens to shut down local businesses in the fishing sector, as the number of fish being caught is believed to far exceed the ‘total allowable catch’ quotas set by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).

In the 2013-2014 DAFF annual report, it states that “almost 50% of our marine resources are fully exploited, with a further 15% overexploited.”

One of these overexploited species is the Indian Ocean yellow-fin tuna, which both commercial fishermen and deep-sea fishing guides along the North Coast rely upon for the continued existence of their businesses.

The fisheries sector generates roughly R6bn per year and contributes only 0.1% of the national gross domestic product (GDP), which, according to the DAFF annual report is small, even by agricultural standards.

“The government spends lots of money – there are politics involved,” said Nene, whose job it is to assist in monitoring the numbers and movements of fish species along the KZN coast.

When asked for information on the practice of illegal trawling, DAFF marine manager Thokhozani Mkhize was unable to comment.