Fishing for equality: Policy for poverty alleviation for South Africa's small-scale fisheries

With the advent of democracy in South Africa there were great expectations that poor coastal fishing communities would gain legal access to coastal resources historically relied on for food and livelihoods. However, a failure to formally recognise the small-scale fisheries sector and adequately cater for them in the post 1994 law reform process, precipitated legal action by a group of fishers against the Minister (George K and others vs. the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism) in 2005.1 This court action resulted in a ruling by the Equality Court in May 2007 that required the Minister responsible for fisheries to develop a policy that would address the needs of this hitherto excluded group and immediately provide ‘interim relief’ through access to marine resources. This paper reports on the final policy (promulgated in June 2012) that emanated from a five year policy development process largely driven by civil society, NGOs and researchers. It highlights key principles and provisions in the new policy that signal a paradigm shift in the governance of small-scale fisheries in South Africa – from a largely resource-centred approach to one that is more people-centred, and which recognises fisher rights as human rights, as well as the important role that marine resources can play in poverty alleviation. It concludes by exploring some of the implementation challenges.