2015-08-14

12 Aug 2015



For generations fishermen from Hangberg have flouted regulations to earn a living from the sea, evading legislative and structural barriers to basic equality that have been in place for more than a century. But while poaching offers a form of income, it carries great risk: poachers must avoid patrols by working in rough conditions or at night, often using poor equipment with little or no safety gear and the results are too often fatal. By KIMON DE GREEF for GROUNDUP.

On Friday August 7 four men sat around a table in Hangberg, Hout Bay, watching the harbour and waiting for the body to arrive. Two of the men were drinking beer out of small glasses and smoking cigarettes, flicking the ash into an empty abalone shell.

Angelo Josephs, the owner of the house, leaned against a pair of sliding doors overlooking the bay. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. The water was smooth. Josephs punched more airtime into his phone and made another call. “Here, they’re coming now,” he said. The men gathered around him as a red and white National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) boat drew into the bay. A smaller rubber duck followed closely behind, bouncing in the first vessel’s wake. The boats curved into the harbour and moored at the southern breakwater, next to the blue tower that dispenses ice to the commercial hake and anchovy fleets.



Photo: Angelo Josephs stands at the door of his house, waiting for Clint Jacobs’ body to return to the harbour. (Kimon de Greef)

At the slipway across the water, where vehicles from a film shoot filled the parking lot and customers sat drinking at the Lookout Deck, a policeman was explaining to residents why the body had not been taken there instead. “It would cause a scene,” he told them. “We can’t do something like that in front of the restaurant.”

By the time the drowned fisherman was lifted off the boat there were 15 people standing on the breakwater, separated from the activity by a rusted fence. Josephs, who had driven down with the men from his house, tried to talk his way into the area beneath the ice factory, where the police divers were busy with their procedures, but the officer at the entrance, who knew Josephs by his nickname, refused. “That’s our brother,” said Josephs, his fingers wrapped around the gate. “We need to identify the body.”

“It will slow everything down,” the policeman answered with some empathy. “Please wait.”

For 20 minutes the body lay wrapped in plastic at the edge of the quay.

A few more people arrived in cars and on bicycles while the duty officer paced beside the body, filling out forms. Nobody spoke much. Two anchovy boats approached for ice but retreated when it became clear what was happening. Ralph Warner, a 56 year-old Hangberg skipper, stood next to Josephs, who is also a fisherman, and lit another cigarette. “They call us small-scale fishers but we’re dying on a large scale,” he said.

When the forms were finished, four men were allowed inside to retrieve the body. They struggled out with the bag, placing it on the concrete behind one of the police vans. The small crowd drew nearer. Somebody peeled open the plastic. Clint Jacobs lay with his shoulders hunched and his dreadlocks tugged loose. His cheeks were cut and heavily swollen. His trousers had been removed, perhaps in an attempt to swim ashore when the rowboat overturned. His shirt and underpants were soaked through. An old woman wearing spectacles and a blue worker’s smock stepped back and covered her mouth when she saw the body. “It’s him,” she said, wiping her eyes and looking away as the plastic was pulled shut.



Photo: Hangberg residents wait next to the ice factory quay. (Kimon de Greef)

Clint Jacobs, 39, had gone out shortly before sunset the previous evening. The sea had been rough for weeks, leaving few opportunities to work. When the swell subsided that afternoon Jacobs hiked over the saddle above Hangberg to catch crayfish. Faizel Lee, a 27 year-old fisherman who lived nearby, accompanied him. The men launched a wooden rowboat from the sheltered cove behind Duiker Island and began setting their traps. By morning, when conditions had worsened again, they hadn’t returned.

Photo: Angelo Josephs has collected photographs of drowned Hangberg fishermen. (Kimon de Greef)

“Upon being alerted to the incident at 11h53 on Friday our Hout Bay station responded immediately,” said NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon. “NSRI Hout Bay launched two sea rescue craft to begin a search, assisted by the Police Dive Unit, Western Cape Government Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and the Skymed rescue helicopter.”

But by then Jacobs’s body had already been found washed up on rocks near Duiker Island by friends who knew where the two men had gone fishing. According to members of the community, Jacobs and Lee were working illegally, harvesting crayfish for one of Hangberg’s organised poaching networks. Fearful of punishment, their associates had delayed calling for help.

“We urge people to contact us as soon as possible whenever there is an emergency,” said Lambinon. “The NSRI has only one job, and that is rescuing people from sea.”

On Thursday night two carriers waited on shore to lug the men’s catch back to the settlement, where a local middleman would have paid between R60 and R70 per kilogram, selling the product on to bigger players in the illicit crayfish trade. Half the money would have gone straight to the boat owner, who wasn’t on board that night. The fishermen would have paid their carriers and split the rest — around R280 each on a typical night, according to Josephs, who has also poached crayfish in the past. “If people want to think of it as illegal, that’s fine,” he said. “How else must we put food on the table?”

For generations fishermen from Hangberg have flouted regulations to earn a living from the sea, evading legislative and structural barriers to basic equality that have been in place for more than a century. Since the early 1900s, when crayfish flipped from being considered ‘poor man’s food’ to a valuable commodity through the development of a profitable export market to Europe, traditional fishermen have been marginalised from accessing resources targeted by the commercial fishing sector, instead being co-opted as cheap labour.

Lance van Sittert, an environmental historian at the University of Cape Town, has documented how fisheries scientists began establishing ‘rock lobster sanctuaries’ — ostensibly no-take zones to protect stocks — in the Western Cape from 1918 onwards, responding to early signs of resource depletion. While these early restrictions may have been presented as marine conservation measures they were tightly entwined with the needs of industry.

In 1934 a sanctuary was proclaimed in the Karbonkelberg area behind Hangberg — where Jacobs and Lee died last week — effectively shutting down the community’s traditional fishing grounds and criminalising its core livelihood activity. (The Karbonkelberg fishing grounds were proclaimed a Marine Protected Area as part of the Table Mountain National Park in 2004, effectively replicating the rock lobster sanctuary of 70 years ago.) The consequences of this action, followed a generation later by the full onslaught of apartheid social engineering, continue to play out in Hout Bay today.

In January 2014, Hangberg residents Garth Adonis and Jason Johnston drowned while fishing illegally off Slangkop, Kommetjie. In August 2011 Verno Hendricks, age 11, drowned after being swept off the rocks while collecting alikreukel (sea snails) near Duiker Island. In August 2010 Burno da Silva drowned poaching abalone in the same area. In April 2006 Leroy Phillips drowned poaching crayfish between Hout Bay and Llandudno. He was the 13th fisherman from Hout Bay to drown in an eight-month period.

“It goes on and on,” said Josephs, who has collected photos of the deceased men and organised protests at Hout Bay harbour after the 2014 incident. “Perhaps 50 people in total. When will it end?” Angry residents like Josephs maintain that Hangberg fishermen would not risk doing dangerous illegal work if there were more legitimate opportunities for them to earn a living from the sea.

Photo by Kimon de Greef.

The South African Medical Research Council keeps a national database of drownings and other fatal injuries but could not supply statistics for Hout Bay by the time this article was published.

Small-scale fishers still struggle to access marine resources through the quota system in South Africa, despite nearly two decades of fisheries reform efforts by the state. Fishing rights were reserved for white applicants during apartheid, leaving fishermen from places like Hangberg to find work in the commercial sector. Hout Bay harbour, once a thriving fishing port where vessels regularly brought in large catches of pilchards, anchovy and hake, has declined as a hub of employment since the 1970s, in part due to declining resources. Over the same period Hangberg’s population has increased dramatically, from 3,300 people in the 1970 census to what residents say is more than 7,000 people today. (The 2011 census data for Hout Bay were not disaggregated for Hangberg, making it difficult to check this figure.)

While the national fisheries authority has repeatedly tried to bring small-scale fishers into the fold as quota holders since the end of apartheid — most recently through the adoption of a new small-scale fisheries policy in 2010, which still remains to be implemented properly — the process has been slow and unwieldy, leaving thousands of fishers across the country, and hundreds in Hangberg, without direct legal access to marine resources.

In the meantime, poor law enforcement and a lack of viable alternatives have fuelled the evolution of lucrative illicit crayfish and abalone trade, which now function as big employers in a number of Western Cape fishing communities. While poaching offers a form of income, however, it is unregulated and carries great risk: its participants must avoid patrols by working in rough conditions or at night, often using poor equipment and little or no safety gear.

“Illegal fishers risk their lives because the chances of being arrested are relatively slim, while the rewards are much higher than what they could possibly earn as unskilled labourers,” said fisheries consultant Shaheen Moolla, director of Feike Natural Resource Management. “Their alternative, of course, is unemployment.”

Photo: Hangberg (David Harrison)

Jacobs, who was known as ‘Rasta’, moved to Hangberg from the Eastern Cape 21 years ago. He had no relatives in the community but was widely loved, according to Josephs. Lee, nicknamed ‘Hottot’, was born into a local fishing family, and fathered his first child earlier this year. By the time of writing his body had not yet been recovered, despite a full search by community members, police divers, the NSRI and Western Cape EMS over the weekend.

“It takes seven days for a body to decompose,” Josephs said. “We know this because it’s happened so many times before. We have until next Saturday to find him.”

Last Friday the small group of residents dissipated a short while after Jacobs’ body was unveiled. Two police officers remained behind, waiting for a forensic unit to arrive. On an adjacent quay, cast and crew from an American feature film drank coffee outside their food truck. At the Lookout Deck the heaters had been turned up outside, bringing warmth as sunset drew nearer. Chapmans Peak was flooded orange behind the breakwater, where a solitary police van stood. A white plastic shroud lay on the concrete beside it. DM

Main photo of Hangberg by David Harrison.

Hout Bay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hout Bay

Hout Bay

Hout Bay

Hout Bay shown within South Africa

Location within Cape Town [show]

Coordinates: 34°2′S 18°21′ECoordinates: 34°2′S 18°21′E

Country

South Africa

Province

Western Cape

Municipality

City of Cape Town

Established

1681

Government

• Councillor

Marga Haywood (DA)

Area[1]

• Total

28.38 km2 (10.96 sq mi)

Population (2011)[1]

• Total

17,900

• Density

630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)

Racial makeup (2011)[1]

• Black African

6.8%

• Coloured

32.3%

• Indian/Asian

0.8%

• White

57.4%

• Other

2.8%

First languages (2011)[1]

• English

59.7%

• Afrikaans

32.9%

• Xhosa

1.3%

• Other

6.1%

Postal code (street)

7806, 7872

PO box

7872

Hout Bay (Afrikaans: Houtbaai, meaning “Wood Bay”) is a town near Cape Town, South Africa situated in a valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, twenty kilometres south of the Central Business District of Cape Town. The name “Hout Bay” can refer to the town, the bay on which it is situated, or the entire valley.

History

When the Dutch established a colony in Table Bay in 1652, a great quantity of good timber was required for construction, shipbuilding other purposes. There was no large forest in the immediate vicinity of the settlement, mainly because the rainfall was not high enough. It was soon apparent that the colonists would be able to fell wood they needed in the wetter valley that lay on the other side of a low pass (called Constantia Nek) between the southern end of Table Mountain and Constantiaberg.[2] The area was originally made up of two farms, which were slowly subdivided to make way for urban expansion. While still maintaining its rural atmosphere, the area of Hout Bay has more than 12,000 residences inhabited by a population of about 42,000 people.

Neighbourhoods

Hout Bay is divided into several neighbourhoods. The Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch describes 28 distinct areas. Suburbs include Scott Estate, Hanging Meadows, Baviaanskloof, Hillcrest, Bergendal, Penzance, Imizamo Yethu, Meadows, Tarragona, Oakwood, Bokkemanskloof, Overkloof, Silvermist, Longkloof, Valley, Victorskloof, Nooitgedacht, Beach Estate, Northshore, Mount Rhodes, Klein Leeukoppie Estate, Ruyteplaats, Tierboskloof, Kronenzicht, Hangberg, Hout Bay Heights and Hughenden Estate. Llandudno an entirely separate village of about 200 houses lies over the “Suikerbossie” pass from Hout Bay.[3]

Geography

Hout Bay is surrounded by mountains to the north, east and west and the southern Atlantic Ocean to the south. In the north, it is bordered by Table Mountain National Park comprising the Orangekloof Nature reserve and the bottom slopes of Table Mountain beyond that. To the north-west, it is bordered by the backside of the Twelve Apostles, known as the Oranjekloof. To the west, it is bordered by Little Lion’s Head (Klein Leeukop), Karbonkelberg, Kaptein’s Peak and the Sentinel. To the east it is bordered by the Vlakkenberg, Skoorsteenskopberg and Constantiaberg. The world famous Chapman’s Peak Drive is carved out of the mountainside and leads towards Noordhoek and onwards to Cape Point.

The sheltered bay of Hout Bay has a white sand beach, a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike. Hout Bay has one of the busiest fishing harbours in the Western Cape with an established tuna, snoek and crayfish industry.[4] The harbour is home to the Hout Bay Yacht Club and several restaurants.

There are three roads leading to and from Hout Bay, all over mountain passes. One goes to Llandudno and Camps Bay through the pass between Judas Peak (part of the Twelve Apostles) and Little Lion’s Head. This pass is known as “Suikerbossie” (known as the toughest hill on the Cape Argus Cycle Race). Between Hout Bay and Noordhoek there is Chapman’s Peak Drive, which was closed for many years and finally reopened in early 2004 with a controversial toll booth. Lastly a road leads to Constantia over the Constantia Nek pass between Vlakkenberg and the back slopes of Table Mountain.

Hout Bay as seen from Suther Peak. The west coast of the Cape Peninsula, up to Signal Hill, is on the left. The bay, with Chapman’s Peak, is on the right.

Surfing

Hout Bay, also known as “Dungeons” to the surfing community, is one of the sixteen recognised big wave spots around the globe. The annual Red Bull Big Wave Africa competition is held here. Swells of up to 47 feet (14.3 m) have been recorded here as well as numerous deaths as a result of boating, diving and surfing-related incidents in the area. The spot itself consists of various reefs. The most popular is called “2.5” since it is 2.5 metres (8.20 ft) deep. Behind it is “3.5”, which is 3.5 metres (11.48 ft) deep. There is also a reef that is reputed to be able to hold a 100 ft (30 m) high wave, should one ever come. Before the use of jet-skis to enter and leave the area, the surfers who braved these waters had to paddle through a dark and deep channel, through to where the waves break.[5]

Leisure and tourism

Hout Bay Harbour

As a historic and still-working fishing village, Hout Bay’s local colour and beautiful scenery make it a popular tourist attraction among both local and international visitors. There are a variety of fine restaurants in the village as well as two hotels (the Hout Bay Manor and the Chapman’s Peak Hotel), many bed and breakfasts and self-catering accommodation where visitors can stay. The harbour is a worthwhile visit, with restaurants, fresh fish outlets and craft stores, with spectacular views of the bay and boat rides to Duiker Island and around the Sentinel. Chapman’s Peak Drive is one of the world’s most scenic mountain drives and has recently undergone renovations to ensure the safety of travellers using the route. The East and West forts built by the Dutch in the 18th century can also be visited, with the original cannons and barracks still standing on the slopes of Chapman’s Peak. The East Fort is the oldest operating gun battery in the world. The mountains surrounding Hout Bay also make for good hiking trails. In the same area is a famous bronze statue of a leopard on a rock at the water’s edge, looking out over the ocean.

East Fort Battery, Hout Bay

The Red Bull Big Wave Africa surfing contest is held on the other side of the Sentinel mountain, at the famous Dungeons. Some of the biggest waves in the world are found here and these attract surfers from all over the world. The competition can only be held during May to August, when the waves reach heights of 15 ft (4.57 m) to 20 ft (6.10 m).

The Hout Bay Yacht Club is situated in the working harbour and provides moorings for both recreational, fishing and sailing boats.

Attractions

Hout Bay Museum

World of Birds

People

Prominent people from Hout Bay

Denis Goldberg, anti-apartheid activist

Sydney Skaife, entomologist and naturalist.

Paul du Toit, artist

Pieter Jansz van der Westhuizen, founding ancestor of the van der Westhuizen family.

Michaela Strachan, English-born television presenter

Pam Wormser, first curator at Hout Bay Museum

Issues with informal settlement

The main informal settlement in the Hout Bay area, Imizamo Yethu, is situated within a community consisting of both affluent and middle income citizens. Relations between the residents of Hout Bay and those of Imizamo Yethu have been strained for several years following the national elections in 1994 and 1999. The initial response to Imizamo Yethu was not favourable, and residents of Hout Bay, represented by the Hout Bay Ratepayers’ Association and the Hout Bay Residents’ Association, strongly objected to the location and management of the informal settlement and also the suggestion of an increase in the land used for the settlement in 2001.

Both associations feared that the land invasions at the time were racially motivated, whereas the African National Congress feared that the Residents Association of Hout Bay was creating a racially charged environment and refusing to develop land for housing.[6] Current issues between residents of Hout Bay and Imizamo Yethu are focused on service delivery for the informal settlement. The 18 hectares (44 acres) area supports 20,000 people,[7] with many of these living in cramped and squalid conditions with no plumbing, roads or any discernible infrastructure for sustainable living. This is in sharp contrast to the affluence of residences in much of Hout Bay. In addition to much middle income housing for local South Africans, there are also a number of multi-million rand mansions, luxurious holiday homes and some small wine estates. As of 2007, political differences between the Democratic Alliance and African National Congress have hampered the building of houses for the residents of Imizamo Yethu.[8]

The settlement has also been linked to crime within Hout Bay. Crime increased markedly up to 2003, particularly in property crime such as housebreaking and vehicle theft. In response to the escalating crime situation, the Hout Bay community formed a successful neighbourhood watch group. This neighbourhood watch has been extremely effective in greatly reducing crime in the valley. Initiatives of this group include further policing, roadblocks, CCTV monitoring, radio network, day and night patrols and the establishment of a 24-hour emergency call centre.[9]

See also

List of islands of South Africa

Ports and harbours in South Africa

East Indiaman Götheborg

Gallery

Hout Bay as seen from Chapman’s Peak Drive at sunset.

The town of Hout Bay and its harbour.

Hout Bay harbour

Panorama of Hout Bay

References

“Main Place Hout Bay”. Census 2011.

http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/hout-bay

http://houtbay.typepad.com/hout_bay_real_estate/2007/08/guide-to-hout-b.html

http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/southafrica.net-hout-bay

http://www.thebigwaveblog.com/surf-spots/dungeons-south-africa

Racial tensions rise over Hout Bay land issue – Independent Online

Mariette le Roux: “Hout Bay inequality a microcosm of S Africa“. The Brunei Times, May 27, 2007 (via AFP)

Blame ANC for neglect of Imizamo Yethu – Helen Zille, Mail & Guardian

Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hout Bay.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hout Bay.

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