MASIFUNDISE
Masifundise Development Trust is an independent, non-governmental organisation working with small scale and traditional fishing and coastal communities in the west and south coasts of the Western Cape, South Africa. Although in the last six months, our fieldwork has taken the organisation into the east coast in areas such as the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal. The organisation is the only non-governmental organisation in South Africa working with fisher and coastal organisations in the region and has been engaged with policy development processes in this regard for the past eight years.
Masifundise is hosting a National Workshop to bring together women and men representatives from fisher and coastal communities, policy makers, government officials, non-governmental organizations to promote social dialogue and debate on the development and successful implementation of a new small scale fisheries policy. This workshop will provide an opportunity for men and women leaders from fisher communities to network and obtain information on participatory, sustainable and equitable approaches to small scale fisheries policy and implementation.
Coast to Coast: Promoting Policy Dialogue and Social Debate on Small Scale Fisheries Policy and Implementation in South Africa
10th - 14th March 2008,
Oatlands Conference Centre, Simonstown, Cape Town
This project is funded with support from the European Union
NEWS!!!!!
Northern Cape fishers gear up for an equitable small-scale traditional fisheries policy
On the 22nd January 2008, 44 representatives from small scale fishing communities, the local mayor, local government representatives, local church and local fishing rights holders gathered in Port Nolloth, for the Masifundise CWCI Northern Cape Policy Workshop. Sadly Marine and Coastal Management failed to respond to the invitation.
This was the first time ever that these fishers had had the opportunity to come together and participate in the development of a fishing policy. Over two days the fisher leaders engaged in debate and dialogue on the vision and objectives of a new small scale fisheries policy. Fishers actively asserted their demand for an equitable policy that will prioritise the rights of small scale fishers and create an enabling marketing environment for them. The need for viable alternatives for women from these communities was emphasized. The women held a women’s caucus meeting after hours and began to document the experiences of women in the fishing industry in Port Nolloth and Honderklipbaai. The fishers developed a comprehensive set of proposals that will be forwarded to the MEC for Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the Northern Cape as well as to Marine and Coastal Management as part of the current policy development process. The evaluation of the workshop was extremely positive and the fishers have requested that similar workshops be held in future. Further, they have expressed their desire to organize together with fishers from the other provinces and to build a strong small scale fisher organization along the coast. The fishers will elect 8 representatives from the Province to participate in Masifundise CWCI National Workshop to be held in Cape Town 10-14 March 2008
“Policy inputs for the development of the new Small-scale Fisheries Policy for the near-shore in South Africa, February 2008”
On Friday the 8th 2008 Masifundise published a Small-scale Fisheries Policy input paper.
The document is meant as a discussion paper for the Technical Committee appointed by the National Joint Task Team. It is furthermore meant to open for discussion between interested stakeholders that are not part of the National Joint Task Team and Technical Committee. Masifundise has opened a yahoo group for the purpose of having a platform for stakeholder discussions. We encourage all of you to comment on this document via the yahoo group. The advantage of using a yahoo group is that all subscribers of that group will automatically receive emails when people send an email to FIPOSA@yahoogroups.com In order to be able to send email to this address you first have to subscribe to the group. You subscribe by sending an email to FIPOSA-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Best regards,
The Masifundise team
South African Small-scale Fisheries Policy Discussion Papers:
“Policy inputs for the development of the new Small-scale Fisheries Policy for the near-shore in South Africa, February 2008”
Previous Discussion Papers
Defining the traditional small-scale fisheries sector in South Africa
Towards fishers' participation in the development of a new policy for the South African Small-Scale Fishery’
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