Address

The Woodstock Exchange

66 Albert Road, Woodstock

Cape Town

Ocean Jewels' is a local women owned Woodstock based business run by Jules, a chef whose father was a fisherman. Alongside fresh local green listed fish, she creates a huge range of deliciously prepared meal options. She also imports several types of fish and condiments.

She never buys:

- Fish caught illegally by unlicensed fishermen

- Imported previously frozen and defrosted

- Imported farmed fish that's not ASC certified

- Fish on Red list - projected species. Illegal to trade in commercially

- Red Roman, red stump - since these Fish take a long time to mature and are overfished and endangered"

She buys Yellowtail and some of her Tuna direct from small fishermen. Line fish - Silvers, Cob, Cape salmon, all come from Local fishermen/traditional fisherman but as they are up the coast (gaansbaai, Arneston, langebaan) she buys through transporters of these fish. Her Hake, Kingklip and Angelfish come from bigger local boats but there is no small alternative. Tuna, Swordfish, Marlin and Dorado come from bigger Longline boats operating out of Cape Town Harbour.

2024/5 AUDIT RESPONSES

Julie’s father was a commercial fisherman. She talked about how the industry has changed in the last decade. She used to have a person or two she could buy specific fish from for each kind; but not anymore.

Is this a traditional fishery - meaning fishing households (as opposed to commercial companies) – mainly for local consumption?

A retailer who works with a few people who buy fish from boats and then resell. She also buys from companies doing that, mainly small companies–as the big companies don’t sell to the small guys. She started her business in 2012.

Are all of the fish caught locally (SA, Mozambique, Namibia), or are any imported? If imported, which fish, and from where?

For fresh fish, Norwegian salmon is imported. For seafood, a lot of it is imported.

If you sell wild caught fish, what method do you use to catch each type? E.g. demersal or bottom trawl, gill nets, longline, purse selne, pole and line, pots/traps, dredges, pelagic or midwater trawls, fish aggregating devices etc.?

Haddock - in South Africa, for some reason it’s actually smoked hake. Haddock in the N. Hemisphere is a kind of fish.
Hake - big companies, trawled mid sea so less by catch (green-listed) or long line (orange). She gets trawled when she can.
Angelfish - Caught in the same nets as hake
Yellowtail - line caught - individual line - the ones caught by nets (trekked) off the beach, hot weather… she’s not happy with cold chain - histamines [was called itchy fish]
Kingklip - Caught in the same nets as hake
Mackerel - They don’t get - it’s very scarce - smoked mackerel: the fish is imported and smoked here
Mussels - all local; all commercial mussels around are WCoast farmed
Salmon Norwegian - There is no wild caught salmon in cape town. They are lying if they say is wild caught locally.
Snoek - She sells imported because local has parasite, and goes pap; imported from Australia
Swordfish - All longline - might be orange listed. Falls under it’s own certification body - IOC or something on Julie’s website
Calamari (Patagonia) - Majority is patagonian. Occasionally has locally caught squid, but is tough so doesn’t tend to sell well.
Clams - normally have namibian brown or farmed white clams
Tuna, yellowfin - majority line caught single line (Nov-June), some boats bring in longline caught (July-Nov, but more throughout the year - but line caught gets sold locally and longline exported). ICV AFrica boats have just received MSC certification for their tuna. But she wants to get more info.
Trout - farmed, South African. Fingerlings (babies) start somewhere, and then are moved elsewhere. Locally farmed.
Whitebait - she’ll get back to me about that.

Are there any catch differences between the fresh or frozen you supply?

No.

Are any bycatch mitigation methods used (for example, torri lines to prevent seabird bycatch)? Have the fishers undergone any training for by-catch mitigation by the Responsible Fisheries Alliance or the Albatross Task Force?

When you buy fish from a company, they are all under standards… inspectors etc. There’s no need to go through, fish by fish. Hake is well-regulated. Lots of rules and regulations, catch, weights, etc. Need an inspector on a boat to offload.

Perception that big companies that we shouldn’t buy from. But only big guys bring in hake. They are well-regulated! Kingclip as well. If you buy tuna from a commercial fisherman, also well-regulated. Small fishers/neighbours, then you’re buying fish that is unregulated.

If you sell farmed fish - what species are they and what are they fed? (wild fish, corn, soy, microalgae, insects)

Salmon. All ASC certified (Aquaculture Stewardship Council). She’s happy with that certified. Unsure what they sell. SASSI has greenlisted locally farmed trout. Has talked to Pavi about it.

Do you supply fresh fish (never been frozen)?

Yes.

Can your fresh fish be home frozen?

Yes.

What is the shelf life of your fish in the freezer?

3 months. It deteriorates, doesn’t go off. To keep in good condition, 3 months.

Are you SASSI registered?

Has been a member since 2014 - when SASSI started.

Do you ever supply (WWF-SASSI) orange or red listed fish? If so, under what conditions?

I sell orange Cape Salmon, has just moved to the orange from red. Is line caught, but it always is. Local traditional fisherman. Norwegian salmon, but is orange listed because of food miles ot get here. It’s ASC certified. Aqua Stewartdship Council.