The Dark Side of the River. Indigenous Fishing Knowledge and Techniques Save the Day

Illegal net fish harvesters are part of a large majority of experienced fishers battling to understand and accept fishing rights allocation decisions and resource management measures affecting their livelihood. They point to years of controversies and questionable management decisions which have resulted in widespread mistrust between government and fishing communities. The Berg River fishing community has something to say about indigenous ecological knowledge…

“The fish spawn in the sea, not in the river,” says *Fingo (real identity withheld) on the spawning of harders (Liza richardsonii) in the Berg River estuary. As a traditional bona fide net fisher and former net fish right-holder who admits to currently harvesting net fish illegally in the Berg River estuary, economic survival has become extremely difficult after the closure of the Berg River estuary for commercial fishing in 2003.

With more than 50 years involvement in the fishing industry and specifically on the Berg River, Fingo says it is difficult accepting the closure of the estuary and having no formal rights.