West Coast Rock Lobster Judgement 2010. Minister’s Win in Supreme Court of Appeal

On 22 September 2010, the Supreme Court of Appeal handed down a judgment in respect of the West Coast Rock Lobster Association (WCRLA) and Oceana attack on the allocation by the Minister in 2007 and 2008 of a subsistence / recreational exemption to certain bona fide artisanal fishers which allowed them to catch and sell west coast rock lobster. In light of the current debate around the reduced total allowable catch for this fishery, this article serves to jog your memory…

The Cape Town High Court ruled against the WCRLA and Oceana and held that the Minister’s powers under Section 81 provided a wide discretion and that “no section remains untouchable or out of reach of the exemption power contained in Section 81”.

Accordingly the main thrust of the WCRLA and Oceana on appeal was that the Minister could not recategorise subsistence fishers and pretend that they were recreational fishers in order to get around the already fully subscribed rights in the subsistence sector, and furthermore they contended that by employing Section 81 in a  manner that the Minister did, the Minister “was subverting the very purpose of the Act and that the granting of rights ought to be dealt with in terms of Section 18 of MLRA.