Food & Home Entertaining – September 2019

chef-to-chef word of mouth and
social media – especially all those
gorgeous images of seafood
dishes shared on Instagram!
Today, over 140 restaurants buy
Storied Seafood from Abalobi:
in Cape Town, Stellenbosch,
Paarl, Durbanville, Paternoster and
Langebaan. Gautengers are also in on
the action – air shipments of Abalobi
fish now reach several restaurants in
Johannesburg, including Epicure,
DW Eleven-13, The Marabi Club and
the SA Culinary Club cooking school.
The success of Marketplace is
quantifiable: since late 2017, over
34 tonnes of fish have been sold
“from hook to cook”, representing
36 species, and amounting to
R3 million paid by restaurants directly
to fishing communities. Yet what
numbers cannot convey is the dignity
being restored to these people.
Today, Abalobi operates in eight
communities – Port Nolloth and

Hondeklip Bay in the Northern Cape,

and Lambert’s Bay, Elands Bay,

Struisbaai, St Helena Bay (Agterbaai),

Langebaan and Buffeljagsbaai in the

Western Cape, with Arniston and

Kleinmond currently on-boarding.

“Further expansion along the coastline

is possible, with funding the only

limiting factor,” says Serge.

Currently, Abalobi receives funding

from foundations like the Switzerland-

based Happel Foundation and Oak

Foundation, The Waterloo Foundation

based in Wales and the Swedish

Society for Nature Conservation

(Naturskyddsföreningen). To obtain

such funding, the organisation

dedicates a significant amount of time

to writing proposals.

“SouthAfrica’ssmall-

scalefisherswanttobe

thestewardsofthesea,

buthaveneverhadthe

opportunitytoactivate

theirstewardshiprole

• they’vebeeninadire
  situation,andsomany
  fishersstillare,”Serge
  emphasises.Withproper
  toolsandaccesstoa
  marketplacethatpays
  afairprice,someof
  thestressassociated
  withtheiroccupationis
  diminishing.It’sashift
  thatinvolvesapushand
  apull,withAbalobialso
  exposingchefstofish
  beyondimportedsalmon
  andtrawledkingklip,challenging
  themtotrysomethingnew.
  WhileAbalobidoesn’tperform
  awatchdogrole,theteamencourages
  fisherstofocuslessonoverfished
  speciesandmoreonthewallflowers,
  likeCapebream,snoekandharders,
  whichtwoyearsago,wouldn’thave
  appearedonthemenusofmany
  gastronomicrestaurants.Withan
  improvedrateandamarketfor
  previouslyundervaluedfish,
  there’slessincentivetocatch
  overfishedspecies.
  Langebaanisarelativelysmall
  fishingcommunityof 22 fishers,with
  sevencurrentlyusingtheAbalobi
  app,andfisherleaderSoleneSmith

ALL THAT I TRIED

TO DO IN THE PAST,

I AM DOING NOW

SOLENE SMITH

RETIRED LANGEBAAN-

BASED FISHERMAN

AND COMMUNITY

ACTIVIST, NORTON

DOWRIES

ABALOBI’S

FISHER LEADER

IN LANGEBAAN,

SOLENE SMITH

FOODANDHOME.CO.ZA SEPTEMBER 2019 25

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