What SANBI’s National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 means for angling Title and South Africa written by First Second Name Photos: other Ian Cox name Southern African Flyfishing Magazine was invited to the launch of SANBI’s National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 (“NBA 2018”)on 3 October 2019. This took place in Pretoria so we could not attend but the synthesis report is available online. It is bad news for recreational angling in South Africa, for environmental management under the Constitution and the rule of law. It is another milestone in South Africa’s journey towards an increasingly racialised autocratic and corrupt South Africa. It is another milestone in the destruction South Africa’s constitutional dream by the capture of state institutions that are opposed to a human right based system of government under the rule of law.
and South African invasion biologists says that an alien species is invasive if it is capable of establishing and spreading in the wild. This is not the legal definition of invasive. It is also incompatible with the environmental right set out in section 24 of the Constitution. But these legal norms or what DEFF’s Dr Guy Preston calls “legalise” are ignored by invasion biologists and government when implementing South Africa’s laws. Hence my reference to state capture earlier in this article. This is why DEFF regards all alien fish as invasive and is calling for their eradication wherever this is possible. This is in line with NEMBA and our international treaty obligations which requires government to rollout extensive invasive species control and eradication plans and for land owners to take steps to control and eradicate invasive species on their property. However, no country in the world has an anti-alien law such as NEMBA and no country defines invasive species as SANBI wants South Africa to do.
SANBI is described as the “scientific authority” in government circles. Its statutory role is to advise government on biodiversity management. It is thus a powerful influencer embedded within the structures of government. SANBI perspective is not constitutionally aligned. The Constitution and NEMA require a reasonable and principled people first approach to environmental management. But SANBI along with DEFF adopts a fundamentally conservationist approach to biodiversity management that regards human beings and human activity as foreign or alien to nature.
The importance of eradication of alien fishes is emphasised in NBA 2018 which notes the success of such eradication measures and recommends that these initiatives be continued and expanded. This is why DEFF is trying to list trout as invasive and why trophy bass in internationally renowned fishing venues such as Loskop Dam are being specifically targeted for eradication.
Recreational anglers largely target what invasive biologists call “alien fish” A species is considered alien according to invasion biology thinking if it is introduced into an area where it did not previously occur at any time as a result of human activity. Invasion biologists believe that these human introductions are unnatural and thus foreign and something that is essentially hostile and thus to be feared. Hence the use of the term “alien”.
SANBI and DEFF justify these actions claiming that one third of native fish are threatened with extinction. MPTA’s Andre Hoffman justifies spearfishing for trophy bass in Loskop dam on the basis it is also home to 23 native species. However, closer examination of the data backing these claim shows that 40% of the native fish species SANBI claim to be threatened with extinction are not listed on the IUCN Red Data List as such. This is because SANBI has its own list of
There are many definitions of what invasive species means. The definition preferred by SANBI
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