Africa / South Africa

Africa / South Africa

Why Deny Us the Right to Live?

Demands of South African fishing communities at the Fisher People’s Forum organized from 24 to 27 August 2002, as part of the Civil Society Forum prior to the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD)

• Access and rights to the sea and marine resources through transformation of national fisheries policy;
• Preferential rights for bona fide fisher people;
• Challenging unfair global trade and finance policies that affect fisheries;
• Provision of fishworker’s rights through the extension of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and other labour protection and benefits, including safety regulations to cover subsistence and small-scale fishers;
• Access to means of sustaining families and livelihoods in the off-season;
• Provision of subsidies to subsistence, artisanal, small-scale and limited commercial fishers, given that currently it is the big companies that get petrol subsidies and tax breaks but not small-scale fishers;
• Provision of infrastructure such as jetties and slipways, adequate roads and access to finance for equipment, cold storage facilities and markets;
• Participation in the management of marine resources;
• Organization of fisher people so that they can be adequately represented to ensure that their issues are addressed;
• Democratization of the fishing industry;
• Visibility of women in the fishing industry.