 FROM THE EDITOR — by Sheena Carnie
HAVE you recently thought about how you could have a bigger impact on the community around you? I started thinking about this when my son came home with his latest Grade 5 oral topic: What can your class/school do to improve the lives of the surrounding community?
The kids came up with some great ideas, including having each class adopt a local charity, underprivileged family, elderly person, park or stretch of river and do something about improving the situation. Not all of these suggestions will cost you money — they might just cost you some time picking up litter, mowing the grass in the local park or for an elderly person, or even taking an extra kid fishing next time you head for the river. Yes, our municipalities are supposed to take care of these issues, but they don’t always. If we all do something small it will make a big impact.
In the meantime, our magazine aims to have a big impact on your fishing ....
In this issue David Weaver and Mike Newby give you some tips on fishing for smallmouth yellows in Sterkfontein Dam, while Dean Impson enjoys a great day out catching Natal scalies near Pietermaritzburg. If you’re getting to that time of year when you’ve had enough of work and are planning your next holiday, we’ve got a few suggestions for you — everything from the Garden Route to the Seychelles and Argentina — take your pick.
In the June issue we’ll look at fishing in Ethiopa — yes, there are trout there — and for those days when you can’t go fishing, try tying up a few of Marc Griffiths’ Jelly Emergers.
Happy reading.
IN MY OPINION — by Dave Rorke
IN this issue of FLYFISHING, our regular “Mailbag” on the opposite page makes way for a report on a workshop held in January in Pietermaritzburg “ ... to discuss the definition of maps for trout as species regulated by area in the Alien & Invasive Species regulations of NEM:BA (the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act)”.
With regard to the status of trout in this country, it was one of the most important meetings of its kind in South Africa, hence its upfront inclusion in this issue. It finally (and officially) put the government’s stamp of recognition on trout as having economic worth and an industry which has considerable impact on the fiscus of our country.
My lengthy report opposite is a mixture of positive and negative, subjective and objective, but it should give interested readers — it is, after all, a matter which concerns all who fish for trout or who have a commercial interest in their continued, long-term perpetuation — a fair idea of what transpired at the meeting. Of course, meetings such as these, with sensitive issues at stake, can raise the sentient hackles on the backs of all who have an interest in the future of trout in this country and their preservation. Consequently, many issues have been raised post-workshop to highlight a number of shortcomings of the proceedings themselves and the subsequent report issued by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the organisation tasked by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) to oversee the trout zone mapping process.
Incidentally, SANBI was established in 2004 and their mission statement reads as follows: “To promote the sustainable use, conservation, appreciation and enjoyment of the exceptionally rich biodiversity of South Africa, for the benefit of all people”. They have concentrated their biodiversity management efforts thus far mainly on issues pertaining to the rich flora our country possesses. However, this in no way reflects on the competence of SANBI to perform the tasks allocated to them by DEAT, though their inexperience in things piscatorial has manifested itself, both at the workshop and subsequently in their report on proceedings.
FOSAF, an interested and affected party, has made an enormous contribution to the process thus far and needs to be congratulated on their professionalism and minute attention to detail in their presentation at the workshop and subsequently in their own report. Though in my report I do say that the expected outcomes of the workshop were achieved, it must be emphasised that there are a number of ambiguities in SANBI’s report which need urgent sorting out, for example the failure to provide clarity on the procedure to be followed in the mapping, amongst others.
The road ahead has been laid, but there are still many potholes to fill.
Fly for now! |
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