Amatola Wild Trout Fishery

Promoting community-owned and managed recreational fishery
Biodiversity
East London
South Africa

Amatola Wild Trout is the first community-owned and -managed recreational fishery in South Africa. It introduces economic and social development into the Amatolas through the development of an eco-tourism attraction.

The initiative introduces a high-end market tourism activity (fly-fishing) into a poor rural area. Income is generated through rod fees, accommodation and catering services. All income generated before the end of 2011 is retained by the community-owned enterprise because short-term operational costs are covered by donor funding. The income will be expended thereafter in order to sustain and grow the business.

 

Eco-Inclusive Impacts
Amatola Wild Trout is transforming the local economy by initiating a recreational fishery which is creating a lot of employment opportunities for the locals. It is also making an effort to protect the biodiversity through different interventions.
  • Sponsoring the members of the local community to take part in tourism and business studies programmes.
  • Creating temporary and permanent job opportunities within the community.

 

  • Improving the water flow and quality significantly.
  • Contributing to the conversion of biodiversity in the Amatola river system through environmental interventions such as eradication of alien species. 
  • Increasing the household incomes by providing services in the recreational fly-fishery; the fishery aims to achieve a monthly income of 4300 USD by end 2011.

 

Partners

“Amatola Wild Trout Fishery” is the first recreational fly-fishery in South Africa owned and managed by a local community. Set up by a partnership between a NGO and a research institution, the fishery brings a high-end market tourism activity into a rural area, while focusing on skills training and job creation for local people and environmental improvement by sustaining water quality and wild trout populations.

Border Rural Committee (BRC): This well established NGO provides capacity and institution building support.

Rural Fisheries Programme (RFP): Being part of Rhodes University, RFP is ideally positioned to offer sound scientific and technical support.