A simple trailer-mounted freezer is the catalyst that has enabled a Garden-Route feeding project expand to communities as far aways as the Klein Karoo.
The project began during the first Covid lockdown in April 2020. It started as an innovative collaboration between the Gift of the Givers, Cape Nature and Invasive Fish Species Management and, later the Oceana Group, the global fishing and food processing company which owns the familiar Lucky Star brand.
Its brilliance is that it simultaneously addresses two problems – invasive carp fish that have long plagued Garden Route fresh-water lakes and hunger in disadvantaged communities.
The project began at Groenvlei Lake near Sedgefield, where estimates put the volume of invasive carp at 180 tonnes and growing. It soon proved successful, gradually restoring the ecological balance in the lake as the fish were caught and feeding disadvantaged families in the nearby area.
Even at the outset the impact was significant, with each catch feeding a minimum of 400 and an average of 800 people a day.
Given the extent of the invasive carp problem in other Garden Route lakes and the need in disadvantaged communities, the founding partners were keen to expand the project – but there was a catch.
Department of Health regulations require that table-fresh fish must be stored between 0oC and 9oC. Although the project had two chest freezers, the temperature regulation limits the number of fish that can be stored, but more importantly how far they can be transported from source before the temperature reaches the upper limit. Effectively this constrained the reach of the project to communities within 30km of where the fish were harvested.
By happenstance at the time Oceana was presenting a training course for small-scale fishers in the region, so Gift of the Givers asked if the Group could help.
“Oceana is committed to food security, is active in the region and understands cold-chain logistics, so it was the obvious choice as a partner to help expand the project,” explains Gift of the Givers founder, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman.
The solution was a mobile freezer, which can easily be towed behind a bakkie and it has made a huge difference.
To date the project has reached 170 000 people in communities as far away as Oudtshoorn, Uniondale, George and Plettenberg Bay, with every delivery providing between 1.4 and 1.6 tonnes of fish.
Gift of the Givers project co-ordinator, Mario Ferreira, says that the intention is now to expand into the Langkloof.
“The mobile freezer has proved a simple, practical answer to overcome a logistical challenge, which constrained the scope and extent of what is a brilliant concept, providing fresh, healthy protein to people who need it. Importantly it fits very much with Oceana’s approach to food security. We like to work with on-the-ground experts and add value. Providing the means to transport the fish to more communities that need it certainly achieves that,” says Oceana CEO, Neville Brink.
