South Africa’s sub-department of fisheries was aware of a conflict between Meermin Visserye, a group of nine fisherwomen and two fishermen, and another party involved in pelagic fishing on South Africa’s west coast and would act appropriately in dealing with its fishing licence, a fisheries spokesman said yesterday.
Meermin, represented by its managing agent Lya Louw, accused the other company of illegally using its licence.
This follows a media briefing held by the agriculture portfolio committee chairman Lulu Johnson last Friday, who accused the other company which cannot be named of fronting and of defrauding Meermin, which he said included mamas and tatas from Lambert’s Bay.
Shaheen Moolla, the chief executive of marine research firm Feike, who represented Meermin at the briefing, called on the department to investigate the circumstances around the other company holding Meermin’s rights to pelagic fish resources.
Moolla accused the company of obtaining the licence using fraudulent signatures.
He argued that one way to ensure that Meermin’s interests were protected would be to cancel the rights allegedly held by the other company.
When his proposal, backed by Johnson, who is an ANC MP, was put to Lionel Adendorf, a spokesman at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, he responded: (The department) is aware of a conflict between Meermin and its authorised representative.
Nevertheless, Adendorf said that the department has been receiving various representations from those involved and [is] currently busy verifying the information and will act appropriately once a conclusion is reached.
Johnson said the owners of Meermin, which owns a 15-year small pelagic fishing permit that runs to December 2020, have been denied the financial benefits of their high-value pelagic quota over the past two years. They have been defrauded and unlawfully denied access to the fishing quota and the income generated from the quota.
Meermin said it had used the other company to catch pilchards and anchovies but had terminated that contract three years ago.
Meermin allegedly later discovered that another individual had signed a contract on its behalf giving the other company rights to exploit its pelagic fishing licence.
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