Latest SADSAA meeting

Ok for all the tuna guys, not much has changed, but here is the official run down on what is/has been proposed and this is from the SADSAA minutes, which I have just been mailed.
These minutes are from the national meeting held in Durban this past weekend.

Cheers
HT

Tuna Bag Limits

Minutes of last meeting

Thanks to a WP member who has gone to the extreme to get hold of the minutes of a meeting arranged by MCM to discuss the reduction of bag limits for Tuna in December 2007, by going the route of the access to information act and sending a fax to Marinus Van Schalkwyk.

Planned Meeting 17th June

A follow up meeting was called by MCM to discuss the proposals at the December 2007 meeting, but neither SADSAA nor WPDSAA were invited. Dr Bruce Jones has sent a letter of objection to MCM about the fact that SADSAA was not invited to the meeting scheduled for June this year. Fortunately the meeting was postponed to a later date and we will keep you posted in this regard.

Minutes

According to the minutes of the December meeting, recreational anglers were selling their Tuna and affecting the market price, and by reducing the bag limit it will reduce the incentive to sell Tuna. SADSAA asked that the statement be withdrawn and SADSAA vehemently denied that recreationally caught tuna were sold. SADSAA stated that it would only consider a revision of bag limits if there was scientific evidence that the species was under threat. MCM asked the following…. What exactly do recreational anglers do with 10 Tuna? Four proposals were put forward, which is not necessary the final decision:

Bag limits stays 10 per person a day, but bag limit of big Yellowfin reduced to 1 or 2 fish per person per day
Reduce tuna bag limits for recreational anglers to 1 Yellowfin and 5 Longfin . and uplift this for defined competitions
Status Quo, reduction only supported based on scientific evidence (SADSAA)
Limitation of 10 tunas per vessel per day.
Further correspondence was made to MCM by Dr Bruce Jones and we will keep an eye on this space.

jb2,  in a previous post on http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=6249&forum_id=1&page=5 wrote as follows:

"There was also the issue of the illegal sale of recreationally caught fish. MCM was unbelieably practical and asked to be addressed on issues such as catch and release. etc.

The recreational sector was more or less "toebek" on the issue if you pardon the pun. In stark contrast one of the tuna associations had showed how they were releasing fish to participate in an Indian Ocean tagging study of yellowfins being conducted out of the Seychelles.

This created a terrible juxtaposition. A commercial fishery conceding the need to tag and release thousands of Rands worth of fish and a recreational sector unwilling to properly engage in the topic."

In view of HT's post on the SADSAA minutes, and the fact that SADSAA apparently had to resort to PAIA and direct communication with the Minister's office to obtain the MCM/WCSAA meeting minutes, the question has to be raised as to MCM's commitment to consult with the appropriate stakeholders.

Any comments MCM and/or jb/jb2?

I am very sure we haven't heard the last of this. I just wanted to let those of you guys who fish Tuna and who belong to SADSAA or WPDSAA know that the guys ARE doing something for us. That being said it would be great if everyone fishing out there in the deep could join SADSAA.

The angler who has been pushing for answers is a member of our club Cape Boat, a very intellectual gent and a highly respected member of the off shore fraternity. I must admit when I chat to him it is very disturbing to hear the lengths he has had to go to, to get some information.

Anyhow, this post is not intended to open the good old how efficient is MCM debate, but to rather keep you guys in the loop as to what 4 options were put forward. At least you know what the guys are planning.

Of coarse there could be another 4 we don't know about..
:doh

Thanks for the response HT, and also keeping us up to date on developments with tuna bag limits. I appreciate that you don't want to fire up the MCM debate but I get very heated when a govt department that is supposed to subscribe to principles such as Batho Pele and transparency takes such a cavalier approach on consulting with stakeholders. And in my opinion, MCM has for far too long been allowed to consider them a law unto themselves.