Blow for fishing group over rights

Viking Inshore Fishing has been dealt a blow in its court battle against the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) over fishing rights as the Western Cape High Court decided that Viking’s interdict against the department should not be made final.

The fishing group had won the first round of a battle after the court ruled in favour of its interdict against new fishing rights in January - a decision that puts on ice the department’s latest allocation of fishing rights and quantum in the hake inshore trawl and sole fishery sector as it had sought to implement its affirmative action transformation criteria.

Viking Fishing earlier claimed that by granting the rights to new entrants it would lead to job losses in its operations as the company’s quota would be cut by 60%.

Yesterday, Viking said the court’s ruling was not unanimous and that one of the three presiding judges had handed down a dissenting judgment, finding that Viking did demonstrate a clear right to the interdict originally granted in January.

“Viking Inshore Fishing interdicted the Daff from issuing the permits because the Daff’s allocation resulted in a 60% reduction to Viking Inshore Fishing’s quota for hake and sole, despite the company’s empowerment credentials,” the company said.

It added that the “dramatic reduction” in quota would place Viking’s fish processing factory and the jobs of 179 workers in Mossel Bay at risk. The company would study the judgment in detail, it said.