On Monday [6 January 2014]‚ more than 100 "langanah" - Cape Malay for hawker or broker - met near Cape Town harbour to elect a committee to represent them in discussions with the department due on Tuesday, 7 January.
They will meet the department's deputy director for fisheries‚ Desmond Stevens‚ with their allies‚ the commercial line fishermen to find a resolution to the crisis in the fishing sector.
The department insists it has followed a rigorous and audited allocations process. Last week‚ it named the successful applicants for fishing rights.
Of the 3‚490 applications‚ only about 600 led to rights being granted‚ and of the 1‚556 applications for traditional line fish‚ only 215 succeeded. Many who failed to get rights are well-established fishermen who no longer have a livelihood.
The entire small-scale fishing community has been in an uproar since the announcement.
Wally Croome‚ chairman of The Commercial Linefish Association‚ said he was optimistic that Tuesday's meeting would yield a favourable outcome‚ with most of the licences being restored.
Fishermen who have not been awarded licences say they have not been given any reasons or a score sheet showing why they failed.
Croome said his examination of those who had been awarded licences showed glaring errors such as not meeting criteria such as owning a fishing boat or having experience in fishing. "If (Tuesday's) meeting is not a success then it will be very difficult to control the fishing community‚" he said.
The chairman of the newly formed traditional fish hawkers association‚ Faidel "Ougat" Samuels‚ said the coloured or previously disadvantaged communities would be the prime losers should the licences not be renewed. "While many of the licence holders are boat skippers and are white‚ they each employ about 12 coloured or black people. Furthermore‚ it is the coloured people who distribute the fish‚ mainly snoek inland‚" he said.
Traditional hawkers buy and sell 7‚000-10‚000 tonnes of snoek a week‚ with most of the tonnage being bought from the small-scale fishers‚ Samuels said.
Should the licences not be awarded‚ the hawkers would go out of business as they would be unable to compete with large companies such as Oceana and Premier Fishing. "It will mean that prices will rise as they (the large companies) sell their snoek to the public at about R75/kg‚ while the hawkers sell it for as little as R25/kg ‚" he said.
The value chain from boat to consumer in small-scale fishing supplies jobs to about 30 people‚ Samuels said. This includes those who buy from the fishermen‚ those who transport it‚ those who smoke it and those who retail it. "If the department is serious about transforming the industry then it should start with the hawkers‚ as our forefathers started transporting the snoek by horse and cart as they did not have the means to fish‚" he said.
The department is due to hold a press conference on Tuesday.
Stevens was not available for comment.
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