Anglers want EL fishing spot re-opened
CALLS to re-open the western breakwall for fishing has resulted in a meeting between fishermen, Buffalo City Metro, the Department of Public Enterprise and Transnet at the Orient Theatre.
Peter Greyvenstein – a local fisherman and business owner – said fisherman were originally barred from the area within the East London harbour 14 years ago over security concerns in the wake of the security clamp-down after the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks in the US.
The fishing community has been fighting to have it re-opened for 12 years now.
“A lot of subsistence, recreational and even commercial fisherman have been negatively affected by this. We are forced to fish in unsafe areas, ” Greyvenstein said.
“Me and many fisherman have very fond memories of fishing at the breakwall,” he added.
He said the recent re-opening of the Orient Pier was a step in the right direction – it was safe to fish there any hour of the day or night.
He said that together with other fisherman they were busy registering a non-profit organisation called the Buffalo City Association of Saltwater Anglers (BCASA) in order to “unite” the fishing community and give it “one voice”.
“It seems as though the fishing community has been purposefully excluded while clubs like the yacht and rowing clubs are allowed to operate in the harbour,” said Greyvenstein. The meeting, which was well attended yesterday saw the manager of the office of the deputy executive mayor, Thanduxolo Nodikana, expressing BCM’s support for the fishing community.
Nodikana said the city was hopeful that the possible opening of the harbour would see the formalisation of the fishing industry in East London and the creation of jobs.
Terry Taylor of Transnet said that progress had been made in the opening of the port precinct for fisherman and encouraged them to make “good” and “responsible” use of “what they have” in the Quigney area, referring to the Orient Pier.
Taylor did not mention when or if the breakwall, among other harbour fishing spots, would open again.
Lebo Ntwampe, chief director transport at the Department of Public Enterprises, said that negotiations for the opening of more fishing spots were ongoing.