Being an SA Brit with friends around the world, I have eclectic interests when it comes to receiving information. One of the notifications I receive is from the Natural History Museum in London, the latest being an invite to go to a talk on disappearing fish populations, aptly titled Has Fish had its Chips?

The title of the talk was clever and caught my eye. As these things do, it also set me thinking about us here in South Africa, since we have a huge coastline, are surrounded by huge oceans, and fishing is a big industry here – as are fish & seafood restaurants, particularly here in the Cape.

As with Cod, the mainstay of British Fish ‘n Chips, that were once so plentiful, so with many of the fish that frequent the waters around our shores.

I remember when we moved to South Africa in 1972 you could go into Goldfields and buy Kingklip. Not baby Kingklip, but a PIECE of Kingklip. I say a piece because they were huge fish that were on display. I do not think I have seen a big one like those for 20 years, maybe more.

The same goes for the other fish that you used to be able to go down to the harbour and buy, or buy at your local fish market, or eat in restaurants. Steenbras, Geelbek, Red Steenbras [my favourite and one you rarely see at all these days], Yellowtail, Cape Salmon and so on. If you do see these on the menu or for sale in your local supermarket/fish outlet, they are small by comparison to former days and exorbitantly priced. Fish used to be cheap and the mainstay of many peoples’ diets – not so these days. Line fishermen still ply their trade but they are not catching so much these days either I think. Of course I am focussing on the Cape here, but this applies to other parts of South Africa, even with the smaller fish such as shad, or elf as it is known on the west coast, a really tasty smaller fish. And then there’s the Atlantic Bluefin tuna, sardines, and so on. I am sure you can name a whole lot more.

I blame the loss of the larger, deep sea fish as much on the factory ships and worldwide overfishing as I do climate change and pollution. The days of the smaller fishing fleets going out have mostly passed, with quotas being given to the big companies, leaving the small fisherman out of a livelihood it seems; apart from those still doing seasonal fishing, like the Snoek fishermen here in Hout Bay.

Harbours where the smaller fishing boats used to come in and sell fish are now full of boats that just ride at anchor most of the time. Just off the top of my head I can think of a few places here and in the UK that have suffered this fate - Hout Bay, Hermanus and Mossel Bay here in the Cape; Newlyn Harbour, Cornwall, England. You also have to ask yourself why it is that Taiwanese trawlers fish our waters or that the Japanese fish so far afield. Aren’t they rather a long way from home?

Fishing is now mostly the province of the big companies with huge factory ships that can go out for a long time and fish deep waters, processing and flash freezing the fish in enormous quantities. Legislation always seems to come too late and protect the big companies, who are taking the most out of the sea, whilst shutting down and discriminating against the smaller fishermen, who have plied their trade the world over since time immemorial.

If you go to a site like the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and look up South Africa, there are a lot of wonderful graphs, but working them out is not so easy, and there are lists of maritime legislation for South Africa on there too. Graphs and stats are wonderful things, but they do not always paint the true picture, and can be skewed. Legislation seems to take so long and then has to be policed, and not just for locals but other countries fishing within our territorial waters.

I do not profess to be an expert in this area of course, but I am not blind, deaf or stupid, and I do wonder what is ultimately going to happen to the worlds’ fish populations. I say ‘world’ because, of course, fish are not limited to human made boundaries and migrate.

Maybe it is time those same big companies started to invest in large scale fish farming, or fish replenishment, before they too go the way of the smaller fishermen – and before Fish really has had its Chips?

What are your views?

Links:
Natural History Museum, London: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/events/programs/naturelive/the_end_of_the_great_british_fish_dish%3F.html

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations:   http://www.fao.org/fishery/en