Olifants River Co-management

Photo: Mariam January

The overall aim of this project is to revitalise the co-management system for the Olifants River Harder Fishery and contribute towards the development of an integrated coastal management plan for the Olifants Estuary. Involvement of resource users in management activities and decision-making is a key principle of co-management, requiring negotiations between the fishers and relevant government officials in order to prepare a co-management agreement that is acceptable to both parties. The EEU has been involved in research with the Ebenhaeser traditional net fishing community since the mid-1990s and various training interventions on co-management with the local fisher committee, fishermen and community monitors have been facilitated.

A community monitoring process has been set up where local monitors collect catch data for Liza richardsonni (locally known as harders) and the data obtained are used by the EEU to monitor and conduct stock assessments for fishing activities in the area. The EEU has also conducted various surveys and investigations into alternative livelihood opportunities, and has documented socio-economic profiles for the community.
Notwithstanding a commitment from government to co-manage the estuary, this community has been marginalised in the general policy for the allocation of fishing rights, and in 2005 the government department responsible for fisheries and Integrated Coastal Management national fisheries authority unilaterally announced its intention to phase out the traditional gillnet fishery on the river.

Further, an estuary planning process was initiated by the department in 2008, and the community requested the support of the EEU in advocating against the declaration of a Marine Protected that would effectively extinguish their customary rights and livelihood practices. The EEU, together with other civil society partners, has supported the community in defending their rights to the estuary through a range of advocacy interventions that have resulted in a withdrawal of the original management proposal. This matter is on-going and the EEU continues to play a leading role in ensuring that the community representatives are empowered to participate in the planning process in an informed and effective way, able to address the conflicts that arise in the process and able to draw on research and best practice from other relevant sources in order to move towards an integrated and sustainable governance system for the estuary.