Following the announcement of the South African national lockdown on the 26th of March, fishing was declared an essential service. However, the closure of domestic restaurants hit small scale fishers hard and many struggles to find a market for their catch.
Small-scale fishing communities in the Western Cape were affected in the months of January and February because of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, which involved the closing of restaurants and fishermen not being able to sell abalone and West Coast Rock Lobster to their traditional marketers.
Hence, The Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Department in partnership with FishSA, and major fishing corporations and the SA Fishing Development fund are set to distribute 10, 000 food parcels to distressed small-scale and interim relief fishers across the country. To date, 1,500 parcels have been distributed to assist fishers in the Overberg Region, and Southern Cape from Witsand in the west, to Bitou in the east.
“An initiative of this nature is a true reflection of the spirit of Ubuntu from our sector. We join with the government in its endeavours to flatten the infection curve and to lend a helping hand to those hard hits by the virus. We call on all economic sectors to do likewise. Together, united as a nation we can get past these tough times,” said Fish SA Chairperson Loyiso Pantshwa.
From the 4th of May, registered small-scale fishers in Cape Town Metro, West Coast, and Northern Cape will benefit from the parcels. Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal small-scale fishers will receive their parcels during the week of 11 May.
“The generosity of Fish SA, the SA Fishing Development Fund as well as several large-scale commercial fishing companies has made this possible and I want to thank them for taking the initiative to help thousands of families in distress,” said Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries.
