The 4u2fish campaign is in place to assist the general public within Umkhanyakude and the St. Lucia tourism industry with their projects, by getting folks within the social media space to be active, attentive and present in person when needed at public participation process meetings. This will give the 4u2FISH team members and other interested and affected parties the political tools and necessary public support to take on the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority ( IWPA )
This drastic step has become essential, due to the very serious mismanagement of the St. Lucia estuary system and the subsequent collapse of the biodiversity within the St. Lucia estuary system and surrounding waterways. The local communities surrounding Lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary system used to depend on the renewable natural resources within the system for many of their daily needs, as well as a source of income to support their families. These natural renewable resources have disappeared. They are no longer available because the system has collapsed following the mechanical closure of the St. Lucia Estuary in 2002, and the subsequent poor \ bad management of the St. Lucia estuary system by the IWAP
There are no prawns or fish to be caught in the St. Lucia estuary. The fish no longer have access to their breeding grounds and nursery zones, where the fry could grow up in the protection of mangrove forests and other intertidal areas.
There is currently ( May 2019 ) no domestic tourism connected to consumptive tourism within the St. Lucia estuary system or its hinter lands in Lake St. Lucia. This means that the passing trade associated with tourism connected to boating and fishing within the area is missing. This passing trade is rather substantial, and was the main driver of the local arts and crafts industry within the Umkhanyakude district municipality.
The management of the 4u2fish campaign thus invite you, as a concerned citizen to join us in our attempts to regain fishing and general access rights to the many diverse natural areas of lake St. Lucia, the St. Lucia estuary system and surrounding water ways as well as the coast line of the Elephant Coast.
Besides access rights which have been systematically eroded, there is the major issue of biodiversity collapse, which also needs our attention. The #BIODIVERSITY problems need urgent attention, but we must not neglect access rights.
Our collective fishing rights and access rights have been systematically eroded away through the introductions of legislations developed and implemented by the IWPA. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is the government appointed custodian of the GREATER ST. LUCIA WETLAND PARK WORLD HERITAGE SITE, which was renamed as the iSimangaliso wetland Park World Heritage Site. The IWPA have been systematically ensuring that the local as well as domestic consumptive tourism market is eradicated and removed from the tourism mix within the Umkhanyakude district municipality.
This may sound harsh or even unthinkable, but we do need to consider the world heritage site deregistration process, and evaluate using this as a tool to force the hand of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority. The area was declared a WORLD HERITAGE SITE because of the natural biodiversity within the area. Now that the biodiversity within lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary system has collapsed, does the area still warrant being a world heritage site ?
This and many other very thorny issues need to be addressed, and each of these issues will require public participation process meetings as is mandated in the legislations around these issues through the processes as laid out in the National Environmental Management Act. ( NEMA )
Some other important questions that the public have been asking....
Where does one find a toxicology report discussing the long term impact of the IWPA spraying with DDT, which was undertaken with special permission from the United Nations as part of the South African governments anti malaria efforts, following motivation of using DDT by the CEO of the IWPA and the minister of ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS in the early 2000's
When will the IWPA hold PPPMs ( #PPPM ) Public Participation Process Meetings discussing their Integrated Management Plans which they are mandated to have in place, including their annual revision of these processes.
When will the Coastal Management Committee hold a public participation meeting in the St. Lucia town hall. The public need to know what this organisation is doing about fish breeding that is not happening within the St. Lucia estuary system, following the #BIODIVERSITY within the St. Lucia biosphere.
When will the minister of environmental affairs speak to the St. Lucia tourism industry discussing the huge losses within Umkhanyakude district municipality domestic tourism base, caused by the collapse biodiversity within the St. Lucia estuary system along with its surrounding waterways as well as what reports are being passed across to the minister of tourism and the minister of finance?
Like I said there are many diverse issues that each have some impact on our collective fishing experiences. The 4U2FISH CAMPAIGN intends to put platforms and structures in place for the public to use in their personal efforts to ensure that their environmental rights are both protected and enforced in a manner that they appreciate, whilst protecting our environment along with the renewable resources such as fish, prawns and other harvestable organisms which are of value to the domestic consumptive tourism market.
Please continue the discussion in the comments below, share this post on your favourite social media platform and talk about the 4U2FISH CAMPAIGN to those who you believe may have an interest.
#FRANKIE2SOCKS
#ReviveStLucia
#HestelStLucia
#4U2FISH
#BIODIVERSITY
