The development of a formal East Coast Rock Lobster fishery is gaining momentum at Port St Johns on the Eastern Cape coast where the nod has been given for the construction of a holding tank facility. A feasibility study has been concluded, a business plan drafted, the finance has been approved, project implementers have been appointed and a project manager recruited. Now all that remains is for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to pay out some of the R5 million it has committed to the venture. The project has the support of the Port St Johns Development Agency which is wholly owned by the town's municipality. The agency is responsible for conceptualising and implementing key strategic projects mainly funded by the IDC to drive economic growth and job creation in the region. Malibongwe Yokwe, the CEO of the Port St Johns Development Agency is responsible for implementing the project. Fishing Industry News SA caught up with him and Terence Jayiya, the new project manager and a marine biologist by training, in Cape Town to find out at what stage the project was. The two men are adamant that this is not a poverty alleviation project. They say they are trying to introduce a culture of entrepreneurship and this project offers job opportunities in an impoverished environment where about 80% of the 170 000 population are unemployed. Painting a picture of the current scenario in Port St Johns they say the key attributes of the area are its natural resources, specifically marine species (namely East Coast Rock Lobster, mussels and oysters) which have been harvested for generations and sold to market at extraordinarily low prices. Citing the example of people from Johannesburg and Durban arriving with cooler bags to buy lobster for just R10 a tail, they say it is time to change the "buyer sets the price" mentality and convince Malibongwe Yokwa (left) and Terence Jayiya. The fishermen that set regulation of the industry will reap rewards for them. Up until 1996 there was no moratorium on what could be taken from the sea and although exemptions are now issued for eight lobsters a day during the season which starts 1 February and end on 1 October, the industry is still not regulated. This is set to change though. Marine and Coastal Management issued the draft policy for small scale commercial fishing during November and formalisation of this sector will ultimately enable the authority to collect real time data. The business plan is structured in such a way that the money will be drawn down over a seven month period to coincide with the construction of the holding tanks. This was due to begin in September but the project has been delayed pending the first payment from DEAT which was apparently due sometime during November. And as a result of the delay, the environmental impact process still has to be completed. This is expected to take three months and is one facet of the project that is a bit uncertain because the site of the factory is close to the recreational area and it might compete with those needs. The Port St Johns Development Agency is not standing alone. A project advisory committee has been established and a wide range of expertise and assistance has been brought to the table around which sits representatives from different divisions within DEAT including the Eastern Cape Department of Environmental Affairs, community leaders and the Eastern Cape Development Corporation. Construction is expected to start in April 2007 and the construction phase will create 160 jobs for a period of about 7 months. This includes clearing a 1500m2 area of land; constructing a 800m2 factory and building 15 tanks with a maximum holding capacity of 10 tons. There will also be a one ton cold store. Terence says they have not tried to reinvent the wheel; rather they have tapped the expertise of current lobster suppliers in an effort to create an efficient and sustainable environment. Because public money is being used, the factory will be owned by the Umanyano Community Trust which will "rent" out of the facility to an operating company. This operating company will consist of shareholders both from the community and private sector as well as a fishermen’s trust which is still to be established. The fishermen will be paid a beach price and any other money will be used for training and equipment and creating projects to keep the fishermen busy in the off season. Currently there are about 1600 fishermen harvesting lobster and there are presently collection tanks at Coffee Bay, Tshani, Hluleka National Reserve, Port St Johns and Embotyi. Considering the remoteness of the area, Malibongwe and Terence are concerned about the fact that DEAT is also funding another R2 million project at Coffee Bay to revive a disused lobster holding facility that was originally commissioned by the University of Stellen-bosch. They would rather have a smaller holding depot there to feed into the main one at Port St Johns. Furthermore they conclude; the money would be better spent to employ data monitors which would create a minimum of 20 jobs because there is no monitoring process along the coast. MCM has since issued a R5 million tender to train data monitors.