New regulations on alien species brings relief for anglers | News
Picture: PETER BRIGG
A draft of the Alien and Invasive Species (AIS) regulations – available for public comment – will bring some respite to trout anglers after trout were listed nationally as invasive last July.
Fishing blogs have been full of discussions on whether fish such as trout and bass were going to be banned from our rivers and dams.
Peter Britz, a professor of Ichthyology at Rhodes University, speaking in his personal capacity, explained the background to the regulation: “Originally the species were categorised as invasive depending on geographical location. This went against the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) which doesn’t allow species to be listed as invasive by individual location – they would have to be classified for the entire country meaning you would need a permit to keep trout.”
Britz said NEMBA was then amended on July 24, 2013 to allow species to be listed as invasive by individual location and not just across the whole country.
The draft regulations take advantage of this amendment whereby trout will be listed as invasive within national and provincial reserves and mountain catchment reserves, specified in the Protected Areas Act, as well as certain areas still to be identified as fish sanctuary areas.
Picture: PETER BRIGG
Britz said the draft regulations were a big step forward.
According to Guy Preston, deputy director general for environmental programmes at the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), this is the first time the NEMBA regulations will come into force as previous versions were not given the “force or law”.
“However, there are provincial laws restricting trout. The existing permits through these provincial laws will be valid for a period of two years, after which any required permit will be through NEMBA.”
He explained that in fish sanctuary areas (for critically endangered and endangered fish species) and protected areas (national parks, provincial nature reserves, mountain catchment areas and forest conservation areas), trout can be farmed with a permit. Outside of these areas, in water bodies in which they are already found, they can be farmed or fished without a permit in terms of NEMBA.
“In most parts of the country – where the species already occur – there will be no restrictions on the farming of trout species in dams. Trout will also be allowed to be fished in most parts of the country, including catching and releasing the species, without a permit. The corollary of this, though, is that every effort will be made (with strong penalties) to prevent trout being introduced into any area in which they do not occur, without a permit. This has widespread support.”
Preston said where trout species had already invaded, it was generally too expensive, or nearly impossible, to get them out of the systems.
“Where these species have value as a source of food, or as a recreational pursuit (especially with tourism benefits), it makes sense to allow them to persist in these systems.”
He said trout could not be introduced into systems where they did not occur without a permit, and penalties for introducing them could include paying for their removal or a fine of up to R10 million.
Ian Cox, a member of the Federation of South African Flyfishers (Fosaf) and a Durban attorney, said the draft regulations were still “fatally flawed” but “a vast improvement” on the 2013 regulations which he said had been promulgated without required consultation.
Cox said the DEA had failed to assess invasiveness in terms of the harm a species caused to human health and wellbeing, as is required by NEMBA. The law required alien species to be managed but invasive species to be controlled by a programme of eradication or prevention.
He said Fosaf was engaging with the department on the draft regulations. The public can comment until April 8, 2014. This document is available at www.environment.gov.za or at http://iol.io/b722s
- Published in Indpendent Newspapers on 24 March 2014.
