AfriForum brings PAIA application regarding fish species in Tsitsikamma National Park

2 June 2017

AfriForum brought an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000) (PAIA) against the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning regarding the decision of Edna Molewa, Minister of Environmental Affairs, to make 20% of the Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (TMPA) accessible for fishery. This follows after the civil rights organisation already directed a letter to Molewa in February 2017 regarding its concern about this decision. 

AfriForum would like to gain access to the following information:

- The potential number of recreational fishers that will fish in this area;

- A complete explanation of the decision to make the area accessible for recreational fishing, including scientific evidence of the impact it will have on the area; 

- The reason why various petitions opposing the opening of the TMPA were ignored;

- The involvement of the Department in the decision-making process and if the possible impact on fishing communities residing in the area was taken into account; and

- Considering the precedent created by this decision, how the Department will handle similar requests of communities bordering on the protected area.

“The Minister mentioned in her 2017 budget speech that the Department intends on implementing a national guideline for the establishment of coastal management lines and the protection of coastal areas. It is therefore unclear how she took her decision in December 2016 to make the TMPA accessible for recreational fishery without any suchlike guidelines,” says Chris Boshoff, AfriForum’s Coordinator for Environmental Affairs.

SMS your name to 45354 to support AfriForum’s petition (R1).

Statement issued by Chris Boshoff, Coordinator: Environmental Affairs, AfriForum, 2 June 2017