At the heart of the fishers' anger is the Fishing Rights Allocation Process -- a system they say has long favoured large commercial operations, leaving small-scale operators with crumbs.

South Africa's small-scale fishing communities have launched protests at harbours countrywide, demanding an urgent overhaul of SA's fishing rights regime and greater recognition of their traditional knowledge.

The protests, which unfolded peacefully under police presence, brought into sharp relief the tensions between local livelihoods, marine conservation policies and what fishers call the unchecked dominance of big commercial trawlers.

Earlier this month, the call went out for protesters to show up at 40 coastal sites with placards and hand-delivered letters carrying a common message: coastal communities feel abandoned by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) under minister Dr Dion George.

'We know these waters'

For Bridgette Oppelt, a fisher and community organiser from Mitchells Plain, the fight is personal and generational.

"Our coastline is rich -- False Bay alone can feed so many of our families," she said, standing at the entrance to Kalk Bay harbour, flanked by fellow fishers and law enforcement officers.

"But government policies shut us out, while commercial trawlers come right into our waters, hauling...