SA, Norway in R40m marine deal
8 October 2004
South Africa and Norway have signed a four-year R40-million marine fisheries business plan in terms of which the two countries will cooperate on building research capacity, skills training and the development of coastal communities.
The agreement was signed in September by Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk and Norway's fisheries minister, Svein Ludvigsen.
Speaking at the signing in Cape Town, van Schalkwyk said the agreement aimed to improve employment opportunities in SA's fisheries sector, improve sustainable use of fishing resources in small-scale and subsistence fisheries, and enhance capacity in marine science and fisheries economics and management by giving training to targeted groups.
The plan also aims to build management capacity in policy development, rights allocation, and research and monitoring in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism's Marine and Coastal Management
branch.
Norway and South Africa's cooperation in marine fisheries started in 1996, and in 2000 was formalised in a programme that focused on policy and legislation development, scholarships and training, scientific capacity building, and the management of subsistence fisheries.
Norway contributed an estimated R45-million in assisting South Africa's marine industry between 1994 and 2004.
About half of all previously disadvantaged scientists employed by the Marine and Coastal Management branch have been trained in Norway, and 14 students have received training at post-graduate level through the scholarships, the department siad in a statement.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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