Ongoing stakeholder meetings discuss fishing vessel regulations

Consultation programme moves to Western Cape

SOUTH AFRICA: After hosting engagements in KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape, the South African Maritime Safety Authority will move to the Western Cape this week where they will stage a host of engagements in Mossel Bay, Gansbaai, Cape Town, Hout Bay, Lamberts Bay and Saldanha Bay.

Each of the six planned engagements will cover all four of the new Draft Merchant Shipping Regulations which include fisher labour welfare as well as regulations for the construction of fishing vessels. The Draft Merchant Shipping (Radio Installations) Regulations are also on the agenda.

With six venues to choose from, Western Cape fishing stakeholders will have ample opportunity to engage with the Authority on the Draft Regulations.

According to some sources, there was very limited participation at the five-day session held in Durban at the end of January. It is unclear as to why the Durban session was held over an extended period that included engagement on some of the regulations over more than one day.

With the exception of the Hout Bay session, all of the Western Cape engagements are scheduled to run for two days. Interaction with industry stakeholders suggest that the sessions in Cape Town, Hout Bay and Saldanha Bay could have been condensed into a combined engagement in Cape Town.

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