South Africa has a coastline of some 3,000 km. The western coastal shelf is highly productive, in common with other upwelling ecosystems around the world. Industrial fisheries started just before the turn of last century and, thereafter, effort escalated rapidly. By the 1960s, catches in several South African fisheries had exceeded sustainable yields and there were sharp declines in some key stocks, prompting initiatives to improve the scientific standard and base for management of the major fisheries.
In order to assist South Africa in improving the scientific standard and the management of the major fisheries, Norway and South Africa signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” in 1994. The Norwegian contribution focused on the main issues confronting the sector and was targeted at developing a new policy and legislative framework addressing, in particular, the management of marine resources and the redistribution of fishing quotas. The Marine Living Resources Act (MLRA) was approved by Parliament in October 1998 and was followed by revision and amendment of the fisheries regulations and the allocation of fishing rights. A short 1-year “trial runs” (2000), medium term (4 years from 2001) and eventually long term, 15 years from 2005.
The Nansen Programme establishes an overall structure for the identification, coordination and monitoring of all cooperative activities within the field of marine fisheries that could contribute to the enhancement of the effectiveness of research and management related to marine fisheries, mariculture and the ecosystems in which the marine living resources live.
The current programme: NORSA - Institutional cooperation in fisheries and aquaculture 2005 – 2010 focuses on:
- Mariculture Sectoral Development Assistance
- Scientific Capacity-building and Training
- Scholarships
- Fisheries Management and Sector Development Support
- Legislation Development
- Subsistence Fisheries Management
- Regional Collaboration
Funds available for the Programme includes allocations for administration and monitoring of a co-operation in both Norway and South Africa. The target groups and beneficiaries of the programme are:
- The communities dependent on the marine resources of South Africa
- The administrative and technical staff at Marine and Coastal Management
- SADC countries can also benefit from this Programme when results are shared with regional colleagues. This will harmonise relations and promote fisheries management ideals between the various Southern African Development Community (SADC) partners.
