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ONLY about 40 Kalk Bay fishermen stand to benefit from the government's allocation of long-term lobster rights over the next ten years, effectively leaving the fishing community in disarray.

About 35 beneficiaries stand to gain from a 20-tonne quota that for years had been allocated to benefit all bona fide fishermen at the harbour, while five others were gran-ted their own quotas of 750kg each.

But about 140 fishermen have not been granted an individual quota and cannot benefit from the 20 tonne quota because they are no longer members of the association that manages the quota.

The 20-tonne quota is worth up to R2 million.

Fishermen were informed by the Kalk Bay Rock Lobster and Linefishing Association last year that, according to the Department of Marine and Coastal Management, they had to resign to apply for their own quotas. Many resigned, leaving a handful of beneficiaries to benefit from the quota.

Fishermen Bunny Pendlebury, Robert Andrews and Joao Simoes, among others, have called for fishermen and the Association to set aside differences and be allowed back into the Association.

Fishermen are now saying that they have learned it was not necessary to resign. "They have been told by Shaheen Moolla, a consultant to MCM, at a meeting in the community hall in Kalk Bay and by others that it would not have been an exclusionary factor. One could apply and even secure a right for west coast rock lobster and still remain a member of the Association," says Andrews.

"Of the approximately 140 misinformed fishermen who have resigned, only about five have secured their nearshore west coast rock lobster 750kg fishing rights. This leaves approximately 35 people securing a 20-tonne quota for 10 years and about 135 Kalk Bay fishermen deprived permanently from a vital source of income."

The deadline for fishermen to appeal against MCM's decisions was yesterday.

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