In response to a threat from the Northern Trout Association that this body would have to approach the High Court for requisite relief and costs the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency acted quickly and reinstituted the annual permitting system. However, for the next 12 months this will be at a cost of R1200 per permit.Unfortunately, Mpumalanga will have to accept this high fee for the remaining 12 months as a compromise as the MTPA ordinance actually specifies a monthly permit at R100 per permit and this matter is the subject of an internal audit.
However, the NTA committee will be meeting with the MTPA in the next 12 months to discuss the permitting system from mid-2023 onwards. The approach will be that permits should not be required if trout are stocked in the so-called green or trout zone. This zone is based in Mpumalanga primarily on what the MTPA called the ‘Flyfishing zone’ which was agreed upon many years ago and confirmed when the trout zones for South Africa were mapped in the 2015/16 period following the Phakisa agreement of 2014. The mapping was agreed upon by all the provincial aquatic scientists but paid for by the trout industry at a cost of over R200 000,00.
As you are also aware the then Department of Environmental Affairs subsequently reneged on the Phakisa agreement which led to FOSAF taking the Minister to court which they won with costs. The department appealed the judgement in March this year and we can expect judgement to be handed down probably in the next quarter.
These matters are highly frustrating for all of us. Not only do we have to resort to expensive court action or threats thereof, but it is probably why some persons eventually resort to the illegal stocking of the highly invasive carp and bass as it is very simple and cheap, and they know too well that it is virtually impossible to police this action.
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