Managing South Africa's trawl bycatch

Over the past few decades, it has become widely recognized that the management strategies of world fisheries must ensure sustainability of bycatch as well as of target species. South Africa implemented a pilot observer programme from 1995 to 2000 to collect data on the levels and patterns of bycatch and discards in the demersal trawl fishery. Here, the results of that programme are used in conjunction with information on bycatch value and compliance to assess the issues and problems regarding bycatch and discarding in the fishery. In general, bycatch components can be placed into one of three categories (discarded bycatch, retained bycatch, and processing waste), each of which present different management problems and require different management approaches. The results were used to formulate a bycatch management plan for the demersal trawl fishery in South Africa. Given the need to continue monitoring bycatch, the performance of the pilot observer programme is reviewed, and the levels of sampling effort required for a national programme are discussed

FOOD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS IN THE URBAN INFORMAL MARKETS: THE CASE OF RED MEAT MARKETING IN THE WESTERN CAPE TOWNSHIPS AND INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

The market for agricultural/food products is increasingly becoming concentrated in the urban black townships and informal settlements. Most of the formal marketing systems are not suited to serve the township market, and consequently this sector experiences access problems which results in a largely inadequate supply. This situation threatens food security in the townships and informal settlements. The marketing vacuum left by the formal systems, however, provided entrepreneurs an opportunity to market food in this sector. This paper therefore deals with the situation where entrepreneurs started marketing red meat in the Cape urban townships. It largely describes the ground level activities of these traders whose operations are generally described as informal