The Responsible Fisheries Alliance
Three of SADSTIA’s members (I&J, the Oceana Group, and Sea Harvest) are members of the Responsible Fisheries Alliance, a non-profit organisation that is working to ensure that healthy marine ecosystems underpin a robust seafood industry in southern Africa.
The RFA provides a mechanism for the companies to work with the conservation organisations WWF and Birdlife South Africa on a range of projects, all of which have responsible and sustainable fisheries management as their objective. For example, with funding and support from the RFA, WWF has developed and rolled out a responsible fisheries training course to at least 1 200 fishers, as well as fisheries inspectors and observers. So successful has the responsible fisheries training been that it is now regularly presented to fisheries inspectors, observers and fishing crews in neighbouring Namibia and Angola.
Projects successfully tackled by the RFA
- The adoption of seabird mitigation measures across all 15 vessel types belonging to RFA members
- The introduction of a system to substantially improve the management of bycatch species in the inshore trawl fishery
- The testing of new seabird scaring devices which are designed to further reduce interactions between trawl gear and seabirds
