Page 15 - South Africa Report

ecosystem management of marine resources. A number of programs have been sponsored by foreign
organization such as the NORAD program supported by Norwegian. There also training systems that
are supported and subsidized by Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) (FAO Fisheries and
Aquaculture Department).

In South Africa, fisheries management has been having a limited definition of the term subsistence Country Profile
farming hence a lot of small scale and traditional fisheries were marginalized and left out in
the decision-making process. However, in 2014, the amendment of the Marine Living Resource The Republic of South Africa
Amendment Act (MLRA) Act No. 5 of 2014, paved way for the inclusion of small-scale fisheries and
this was implemented through the Small Scale Fisheries Policy (SSPF).

The SSPF addresses the need of integrating small scale fisheries by ensuring the fishing rights are
accommodated and rightly managed and these rights are allocated to groups of people rather than
individuals.

More so the policy also supports the systems that invest in communities on the relevance of sustainable
use of resources without depletion of critical fish stock

The policy further supports investment in community entities to take joint responsibility for sustainably
managing the fisheries resources and to address the depletion of critical fisheries stocks.

The MLRA and the SSFP are directly influential in South Africa’s progress toward achieving SDG
Target 14b in terms of enabling access for small-scale and artisanal fishers to marine resources and
markets. Key principles in the policy include community-oriented management, co-management of
resources and an allocation of the basket of species. The policy goes further to recognize that the
marine sector has not been adequately acknowledged in the past and requires a stronger approach
to legally establish the rights of small-scale fisheries. The SSPF also by moving away from individual
rights creates a channel where small scale fisheries focuses on human rights, development, and
gender hence creating a collective approach with a development goal.

The Government of South Africa through Oceans Economy programme created a result driven
approach Operation Phakisa to support its projects in various marine and coastal resources. The
programme is driven by the recognition that the ocean’s economy has the potential to contribute
up to R177 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2033 and create approximately 1 million
jobs (Operation Phakisa, 2017). The operation which commenced 2014 has enabled government
to unlocked investments amounting to approximately R24 billion and has created over 6 517 jobs in
various sectors (Operation Phakisa, 2017).

The Operation Phakisa programme is structured in six workstreams or ‘labs’ that are located across
government directorates, ensuring a wide representation of national government within the labs’
responsible agencies (Oceans Economy 2017 Summary Report) (Operation Phakisa, 2017). The
Marine Transport and Manufacturing Lab, links to Target 14.4 and Target 14.5 of the SDGs as follows:
• The Offshore Oil and Gas Lab,
• The Aquaculture Lab, linking to Target 14.7
• The Marine Protection Services and Ocean Governance Lab,

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