Chairperson, Minister, a quota allocation is the only access to the first stage of the fishing
value chain. Small-scale fishers like in Hermanus are given an allocation of 200kg of abalone for a season. Abalone internationally costs R800 per kilo.
But a Chinese-owned processing plant in Hermanus pays these small-scale fishers R500 per kilo because they have got the facility to clean and to process the abalone.
So, what is the department doing to assist these small- scale fishers to participate in other phases or stages of the value chain so that they can actually benefit from that 200kg of abalone they catch?
And these Chinese people, they have better access to markets than your department, in fact, your department's officials used to sell the abalone that they took from the poachers to these processing companies.
The MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS, FORESTRY AND
FISHERIES: Thank you very much hon Paulsen, one of the issues that we have to address if we are going to make a meaningful difference to these communities is the issue of access to markets and in particular we have to take
out the middle people that in many instances are nothing better than mashonisas [loan sharks] and are exploiting these fisher people and exploiting their poverty and locking them in endless cycles of debt.
We already have an app that has been developed by a nongovernmental organisation that aims to link up fisherpeople directly with markets, with restaurants and with other people who would want to purchase their products. We are in the process of exploring that option because we think it is one way in which these small fishing communities can get a better price for their goods. But, you are absolutely correct that if we do not focus on the issue of market access then in fact, all we are doing is consigning these people - even if they have rights - to perpetual poverty.
Question 166: