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Expressions of Tenure in South Africa in the Context of the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines

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The Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines

Part of the book series: MARE Publication Series ((MARE,volume 14))

Abstract

Tenure relations lie at the heart of the livelihoods of small-scale fishing communities who depend on their access to and control of fisheries and other natural resources in order to realise their right to food as well as a range of other human rights. In recognition of this, the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) identify the responsible governance of tenure as central to the realization of the human rights of small-scale fishers. Drawing on the experience of customary communities in South Africa, this chapter explores expressions of tenure and their implications for the implementation of the SSF Guidelines. An exploration of tenure relations within the customary systems of indigenous peoples and local communities suggests that these forms of tenure are embedded in epistemologies and ontologies that are foundationally different to most statutory tenure systems. Contrary to the individual, market-orientated conception of rights within the neoliberal property rights paradigm dominating state fisheries management, these tenure systems reference an alternative conception of rights and tenure governance. This plurality of tenure systems, embodied in different systems of law, creates a challenging, potentially conflictual context in which the objective of the SSF Guidelines to develop responsible governance of tenure will be achieved. Recognition and accommodation of the plurality of tenure systems is imperative if the transformative potential of the SSF Guidelines to achieve equitable and sustainable fisheries is to be realized.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The SSF Guidelines use the terms “all parties” and ‘small-scale fisheries actors” to refer to the broad range of government and non-government stakeholders and rights holders working in small-scale fisheries to whom the Guidelines apply. This includes the business sector.

  2. 2.

    See the Global Partnership for Oceans (GPO), (2014) and Environmental Defence Fund (EDF) et al. (2012) as key examples of this approach.

    This submission was developed in the form of a synthesis document for the CSO (Sowman et al. 2012).

  3. 3.

    The right to self-development is recognised explicitly in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but draws on existing human rights instruments that recognise this right.

  4. 4.

    This submission was developed in the form of a synthesis document for the CSO Co-ordinating Committee by Sowman et al. (2012) but is referred to as ‘CSO Submission on SSF Guidelines’ for the purposes of this document.

  5. 5.

    These terms are translated from the Latin (Gaffiot and Flobert 2000, 1579–1582).

  6. 6.

    See the Special Edition of Marine Policy (2015) in which the impact of neoliberalism on a range of fisheries governance and management issues in North America are explored.

  7. 7.

    The CSO coordination group included the World Forum of Fishworkers and Fish Harvesters (WFF), the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), and the International Planning Committee on Food Sovereignty (IPC).

  8. 8.

    See CSO Submission Document (Sowman et al. 2012) and CSO submission on the Zero Draft (CSO 2013).

  9. 9.

    In particular, Canada and the United States lobbied successfully for the weakening of language on Free, Prior Informed Consent which replaced consent with consultation (C. Sharma, February 7, 2014, personal communication).

  10. 10.

    Bantustan is the term used to refer to the homeland areas established by the Apartheid regime for the settlement of African peoples.

  11. 11.

    The information on the Tembe-Thonga community is drawn from research conducted by the author (Sunde 2013).

  12. 12.

    This case study is based on the author’s PhD research (Sunde 2014).

  13. 13.

    Section 26 of the Constitution states that property is not limited to land.

  14. 14.

    Subsequently this was also confirmed by the High Court in 2016 (State v Gongqose and others).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Jackie Sunde

  2. International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), Chennai, India

    Jackie Sunde

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  1. Jackie Sunde
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Correspondence to Jackie Sunde .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian College of Fishery Science, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Svein Jentoft

  2. Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

    Ratana Chuenpagdee

  3. Development and Knowledge Sociology Working Group, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research – ZMT, Bremen, Germany

    María José Barragán-Paladines

  4. Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy

    Nicole Franz

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Sunde, J. (2017). Expressions of Tenure in South Africa in the Context of the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines. In: Jentoft, S., Chuenpagdee, R., Barragán-Paladines, M., Franz, N. (eds) The Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines. MARE Publication Series, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55074-9_8

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