ABSTRACT
South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994 precipitated a law reform process that sought to address past injustices and give a voice to marginalized communities. This process was guided by the new South African Constitution (Republic of South Africa [RSA] 1996) and applied to all sectors of society including the fishing industry, following decades of discrimination and exclusion from legal access to marine resources. The new democratic government faced the huge challenge of transforming an industry in which the ownership of marine resources was vested in a handful of large, white-owned companies. Transformation had to take place in a complex policy environment that included balancing the opportunities created by South Africa’s reintegration into the global economy and adoption of neo-liberal economic policies with a historically strong conservation agenda, as well as various new social development policies (Van Sittert et al 2006).
