South Sudan

The current legislation dates from the 1950s before the creation of the Republic of South Sudan and there is some doubt as to its legitimacy. It is contained in the Freshwater Fisheries Act 1954 which applies to all freshwater rivers and lakes in such parts of Sudan as the Minister of Animal Resources may, from time to time, notify in the Official Gazette (sect. 2). It includes various clauses including that no person shall introduce non-indigenous species without a permit (sect. 4). Other provisions relate to use of gear (sects. 5-7), licences for boats (sect. 8) fishing licences (sect. 9), regulation making powers of the Minister (sect. 10) and offences (sect. 11).

This draft allows for the Director General to implement it and to impose regulations through the Gazette and the Minister on many things including:- Closed seasons; Prohibited areas and methods; Limitations on gears; Size age amount etc of fish caught; Regulate the landing of fish and management of landing areas; Control aquatic plants; Damming, blocking etc of rivers; To collaborate on irrigation schemes; To issue and refuse licenses; Registration of vessels; Use of explosives and illegal methods and The powers of authorised officers.

Licenses are issued for fishing, aquarium fish catching, sports fishing, fish processing (but no QC mentioned), fish trading, fish movement, culturing aquarium fish, export of aquarium fish, disposal of aquarium fish, import and export and sport fishing clubs.

A draft Fisheries Bill was prepared in 2006 and has now been re-edited as the draft Fisheries Bill 2012. The bill is based on a template from elsewhere, and has been adapted to the South Sudan, including some references to marine organisms of which there are none in South Sudan.

Management of the fishery in the States is delegated to the States whose capacity is low. Controls on fishing effort cover mesh sizes, sizes of twines, the forbidding of explosives and poisons and there is a licensing system. Enforcement is very patchy. For all intents and purposes the fishery in South Sudan is an open access one, with no controls on numbers of fishers or entry.

Except with the written authorization of the Director General, which authorization shall be given only in the interest of the proper management and development of the national park, no person shall within any national park:- [...] e) Fish, otherwise than with hand held rod and lines; f) Obstruct, divert or pollute any river, pool, lake, or other points of water; g) Perform any act or engage in any other activity likely to destroy, endanger or disturb wildlife in the national park or to destroy or shelter or alter its natural habitat and environment. [The Act limits any fishing inside a national park to hand-held rod and line; spearfishing/underwater hunting is therefore not a permitted method within national parks. Section 15(a) further bars bringing in any weapon, trap or snare without written authorization.]

No person shall hunt, cut a plant or capture any animal within a national park. ['Animal' is defined in Section 4 as 'any vertebrate animal, bird, reptile, including wild fish eggs and young thereof, but does not include domestic animals.']

Regulation of fisheries, we are supposed to have a fisheries bill; it's not yet passed. At the moment, the ministry is in the process of developing a policy for animal resources, fisheries and tourism. It has to be enacted by the parliament, but [right now] we are working with the old one of Sudan. [The article adds that the ministry only issues operational fishing licenses, and that the directorate is 'partly working with the 1954 Sudan Fisheries Law, though it's outdated.']