General Policy on the Allocation and Management of Fishing Rights, 2013.

This General Policy on the Allocation and Management of Fishing Rights: 2013, issued by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, must be read in conjunction with policies that will be referred to as the "Fishery Specific Policies" or "Sector-Specific Policies" that have been adopted tor each fishery. It deals with a number of issues that are relevant to all the fisheries and includes cross-cutting policy considerations. The General Policy applies to: (a) The allocation and management of rights in the specified fishing sectors (b) The allocation of rights to operate Fish Processing Establishments. The purpose and objectives of the Policy, together with the Fishery Specific Policies are, among other things, to: (a) achieve optimum utilisation and ecologically sustainable development of marine living resources; (b) conserve marine living resources for both present and future generations; (c) apply precautionary approaches in respect of the management and development of marine living resources; (d) utilise marine living resources to achieve economic growth, human resource development, capacity building within fisheries and mariculture branches, employment creation and a sound ecological balance consistent with the development objectives of the national government; (e) protect the ecosystem as a whole, including species which are not targeted for exploitation; (f) preserve marine biodiversity; (k) promote equitable access and contribute to food security, socio-economic development and the alleviation of poverty.
Part B sets out the allocation methodology and process. It also defines the legal nature of the fishing right and outlines core allocation and management considerations (social considerations, biological considerations, Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF), etc. The fishing sectors are grouped together in four clusters for the assessment of applications for fishing rights. The purpose of clustering fisheries together is administrative, procedural and, to a lesser extent, substantive. However, different criteria and weighting may be applied to sectors falling within the same cluster. Due to the difference in the manner in which rights will be allocated to fish processing establishments and the small-scale fishing sector, these sectors will be dealt with separately and are not included in any of the four clusters. It is government policy to support small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) and broad-based black economic empowerment. In general, it is not a policy objective to preclude or discourage the holding of rights in more than one fishery. It will be a requirement that applicants be directly involved in at least one element of the value chain of the fishery. However, in some fisheries applicants will specifically be required to be personally involved in the harvesting of the resources. The policy sets elements of decision-making regarding allocation, including procedures and criteria used for decision-making on the allocation of rights.
The following cross-cutting policy considerations will apply to the allocation of rights in all fisheries: Duration of right; type (form) of right holder (Section 18 of the MLRA provides that only South African persons may hold fishing rights); Employment equity; Basic conditions of employment; Skills development (compliance with the Skills Development Act, 1998); Affirmative procurement; Corporate social investment; "Paper quota risk"; Financial performance; Payment of levies and grant-of-right fees; Compliance; Fishing performance; Investment; Value-adding; Enterprise development; Job creation; Local economic development; Vessels and fishing effort; Safety of staff and crew.
Cross-cutting issues are review by the Department of the Policies, research and ongoing monitoring by both the Department and stakeholders,