Abstract
Inland fishing is rooted in the culture and identity of many South Africans, occurring in freshwater sources, such as lakes, rivers and dams, rather than coastal areas. Fishing is carried out for the purpose of securing food and also provides an opportunity for people to sell fish to surrounding communities (Britz, Ellender, McCafferty & Weyl 2012:327). ‘Kraal’ fishing is a method of inland fishing. The term ‘kraal’ refers to an African village of huts, typically enclosed by a fence (Oxford Living Dictionaries 2019). It is also used to describe some inland fishing practices that involve the use of rocks to form a ‘kraal’ that the fishers used to trap fish. Fishing is however about more than income and food security. The Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science (Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science 2016: 2) at Rhodes University notes that “kraals are an integral part to the fisher’s life and contributes to their physical, emotional, psychological, cultural, spiritual and social existence”. In South Africa, inland fisheries remain largely underdeveloped, resulting in many inland water sources remaining underutilised (McCafferty et al. 2012 in Britz 2016:624). Among the reasons for this is the fact that South African dams have historically been used by recreational fishers. Britz (2016:625-627) note that because fishing is not a tradition in many of South Africa’s rural communities, there is no national framework that can allow for both equitable and sustainable access to inland fishing resources. At the time of that article, the framework was in development, but the National Freshwater (Inland) Wild Capture Fisheries Policy was only adopted in 2021 (Oirere 2021) and is only recently being implemented1. Britz (2016:624) notes, Fishing for livelihood purposes by poor communities remains a marginalised activity and is often portrayed as ‘poaching’. In the absence of a comprehensive policy to guide inland fishery governance, colonial and apartheid-era inequalities of resource access by poor Black communities tend to be perpetuated…
M.A. (Design)