South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association

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South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association

SADSTIA is an association of South African trawler owners and operators.

It is a recognised industrial body that interacts with government, non-governmental organisations and other interested parties for the benefit of the South African deep-sea trawling industry. SADSTIA and its affiliates represent all right-holders in the deep-sea trawling industry, accounting for 100% of the hake landed by this fishery. The Association is governed by its members and an executive co

mmittee is responsible for its management. The chairman and/or deputy chairman and an executive secretary take care of the day-to-day management of the association.

12/06/2026

"To me, the ocean is our livelihood." - Innocent N. Dwayi, Chairman of SADSTIA

That is how one person whose life is bound up with the South African hake fishery describes the oceans off our coast. Not a resource counted in tonnes. A source of life.

For fishing communities from Cape Town to Saldanha, Gansbaai, Mossel Bay and Gqeberha, the ocean is bread on the table. It is work for people whose parents and grandparents also worked the sea. For many, it has always been the one thing that was there.

"Some of us, all we know is the fishing industry. All we know is there is food in the ocean. And that gives us hope."

There is a quieter truth underneath that. The ocean gives, and it can be taken away.

That is why sustainable management is not paperwork. Behind every stock assessment, every survey, every MSC audit, there are people choosing to protect a resource that holds their community's future. The science exists so the hope does not run out.

The people who do that work are rarely named. Here is a place where some of them are.
Meet the Ocean Heroes ➡️ https://f.mtr.cool/rrjqwlfpnd

11/06/2026

Robert Landman, Chair of SADSTIA's Scientific Committee, has spent his career turning data into better decisions for the hake fishery. His way of describing what is at stake is simpler than any spreadsheet.

"If we as humans would just care for what we have, look after that vital organ we have on this earth that is sustaining us. A duty of care. Educate that duty of care, and that would go a long way in protecting the oceans."

A duty of care is not a slogan. It is something you teach, one vessel and one crew at a time, until looking after the ocean is simply how the work is done.

Long before a fishery earns a certificate, someone has to decide the ocean is worth looking after, and then teach the next person who takes the wheel to believe the same thing.

Here are some of the people who have taken it on ➡️ https://f.mtr.cool/fxtrbioiqa

10/06/2026

Santa Princesa, the newest vessel in the deep-sea trawling fleet, catches the allocations of three companies most people in South Africa have never heard of.

Mayibuye Fishing. Ntshonalanga Fishing. Khoi Qwa Fishing Development Company. None of them owns a vessel of this size on their own. Instead, they pool resources, share a vessel and gain access to the kind of modern, refurbished, internationally specified equipment that would otherwise be out of reach.

This is one of the less-discussed parts of the deep-sea trawling industry, and it matters for two reasons.

The first is access. A 65 metre freezer trawler with a Wartsila main engine, an automated trawl system, Baader filleting equipment and a renovated onboard factory is a significant asset. Shared access to this kind of capability is what allows smaller and emerging companies to participate in the industry on something closer to equal terms with larger members.

The second is transformation. Black ownership across the South African deep-sea trawl fishery is estimated at around 86 percent. That number does not happen by accident. It is the result of a long, structural process that includes the allocation of rights, the structuring of joint catch arrangements, and the practical way in which fleets are shared and operated across companies of different sizes.

The Santa Princesa is one vessel. It quietly reflects how the industry as a whole is being built.

Read more here: https://f.mtr.cool/hhrpaanprg

08/06/2026

The deep-sea trawl fishery for hake works in waters hundreds of metres deep, in a part of the ocean almost no one will see. Yet, even after decades of research, much of what happens below the surface is still unknown.

Ina Botha, Vice Chairman of SADSTIA, puts it simply: "I think the ocean represents life to me, and it brings all of us happiness. We enjoy being around it, and I am fascinated with the mysteriousness of the ocean."

That sense of wonder helps explain why the fishery invests so heavily in understanding the environment in which it operates.

For more than twenty years, independent scientific observers have accompanied deep-sea trawlers to watch, measure and record everything the net brings up. Fishing crews now photograph and report every interaction with a shark, seal or seabird. None of this happens because anyone was compelled to do it. It happens because the fishery recognises there is still much to learn and believes that good stewardship begins with understanding.

The ocean does not give up its secrets easily. The people who work on it have learned to approach it with curiosity rather than certainty, and to protect the parts they may never fully understand.

See who keeps this work going ➡️ https://f.mtr.cool/nsxoyrvmpp

05/06/2026

The phrase 'sustainable fishing' gets used loosely. In the South African hake trawl fishery, it has a specific meaning.

It means a fishing footprint that covers only 4.8 percent of South Africa's ocean territory, fixed in place by a voluntary trawl ring-fence introduced by the industry in 2008 and later written into permit conditions. Marine protected areas declared inside that footprint in 2019. Voluntary seabed management areas added in 2025, agreed jointly by scientists, government and industry. Seabird bycatch in the trawl fishery almost eliminated through collaborative work with conservation organisations. Used fishing nets recycled and turned into value for local communities, rather than ending up in landfill.

None of this happened in a single announcement. It happened in steady increments, over two decades, with the same group of people in the room each time. Scientists. Regulators. Conservation organisations. Industry.

On a day like World Environment Day, that is the part of the story worth being specific about. Not what the industry intends to do. What is already in place, recorded, and audited.

Learn more about the fishery at https://f.mtr.cool/rkryuxtxig

04/06/2026

A new fishing vessel is only as good as the people who run it.

On the bridge of the Santa Princesa is Skipper Arrie Shepherd. With his team of officers, Arrie is responsible for 65 crew members, the safe operation of a sophisticated trawler, the quality of every hake fillet that leaves the factory and the well-being of everyone aboard for weeks at a time.

These are the roles that almost never appear in stories about the global fishing industry. The hands on the wheel and the eyes on the factory floor. The decisions taken at three in the morning when the weather turns. The quiet professionalism that keeps a 2 999 kW vessel running safely in some of the most demanding seas in the world.

Fleet renewal is often talked about in terms of vessels and engines. The Santa Princesa is a useful reminder that fleet renewal is also about jobs. Skilled, technical jobs. Factory work that pays a regular wage. Career paths that take people from the deck to the bridge over the course of a working life.

More than half of the South African hake trawl industry's roughly direct 6 600 jobs are at sea or directly tied to the vessels. Each new trawler reinforces that.

Read more about the Santa Princesa here: https://f.mtr.cool/qikdmzpuvo

02/06/2026

A 65 metre freezer trawler was registered in the South African deep-sea trawl fleet in May.

The Santa Princesa, built in Norway in 1987 and recently refurbished, will replace the Umzabalazo and catch the allocations of three SADSTIA member companies: Mayibuye Fishing, Ntshonalanga Fishing and Khoi Qwa Fishing Development Company. A ceremony in Cape Town marked the moment.

Since the allocation of long-term fishing rights in 2022, SADSTIA members have been steadily investing in upgraded vessels, modernised onboard processing facilities, improved crew accommodation and tighter safety systems. The Santa Princesa is one part of that broader trajectory.

Fleet renewal is a long-term commitment. It only happens in fisheries where science, the management framework and the certification environment give companies enough confidence to invest at scale.

〰️ The South African hake trawl fishery has held its Marine Stewardship Council certification for 22 years
〰️ Contributes R8.5 billion to the economy each year
〰️ Supports approximately direct 6 600 jobs and 12 400 jobs in total

Each new or upgraded vessel reinforces what makes those numbers possible. More on the Santa Princesa, the people aboard and what fleet renewal looks like in practice will follow this month.

Read more about the Santa Princesa here: https://f.mtr.cool/csuohlouyq

28/05/2026

Behind every thriving fishing company is a community.

The Sea Harvest Foundation puts that into practice across three areas: education and youth development, health and wellness, and community and small business development.

For Elodia Alexander, a Sea Harvest employee and single mother, that support meant her son El-Jay could compete in the Wildeklawer Rugby Tournament in Kimberley, one of SA's most prestigious schools rugby festivals.

In 2025, the Foundation also funded a third litter trap at a stormwater outlet in Saldanha, designed by engineering graduate Philani Makhabela, to keep pollutants out of the ocean.

A sustainable fishery is about more than fish.

Read the full 2025 Annual Review ➡️ https://f.mtr.cool/utjdroynzp

26/05/2026

981 fishers. 142 cooperatives. One programme quietly changing how small-scale fishing works in South Africa.

Oceana's "Cooperative Sense" training gives small-scale fishers hands-on knowledge of running a cooperative: business management, food safety, sustainable fishing, safety at sea. It is not charity. It is capacity-building.

In 2025, 100 fishers went through FoodBev SETA training with Oceana, and another 150 completed SAQA-certified courses at NQF Levels 1 and 2.

And it is growing. Oceana and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment have launched a national mentorship programme, backed by a R4.4 million grant, to support 250 cooperatives.

A sustainable fishery is not just about fish. It is about people.

Read the full 2025 Annual Review ➡️ https://f.mtr.cool/oemfhnrdro

13/05/2026

Using global conservation data, researchers found that agriculture threatens far more species than fishing.

One estimate suggests extinction risk per unit of animal protein is ~2.6× higher for agriculture than for wild-caught fish.

This is not a free pass for harmful fishing. Sustainable limits and strong management are essential.

But it is a reminder that biodiversity outcomes depend on what our food system shifts toward, not only what it shifts away from.

Learn more at https://sadstia.co.za/

Source: Leadbitter et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.1080/23308249.2025.2585414

Address

2nd Floor, Harbour Place, Martin Hammerschlag Way
Cape Town

Telephone

+27 (0)21 425 2727

Website

http://sadstia.co.za/

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