The Minister and any organ of state shall in exercising any power under this Act, have regard to the following objectives and principles:
| (a) | The need to achieve optimum utilisation and ecologically sustainable development of marine living resources; |
| (b) | the need to conserve marine living resources for both present and future generations; |
| (c) | the need to apply precautionary approaches in respect of the management and development of marine living resources; |
| (d) | the need to utilise marine living resources to achieve economic growth, human resource development, capacity building within fisheries and mariculture branches, employment creation and a sound ecological balance consistent with the development objectives of the national government; |
| (e) | the need to protect the ecosystem as a whole, including species which are not targeted for exploitation; |
| (f) | the need to preserve marine biodiversity; |
| (g) | the need to minimise marine pollution; |
| (h) | the need to achieve to the extent practicable a broad and accountable participation in the decision-making processes provided for in this Act; |
| (i) | any relevant obligation of the national government or the Republic in terms of any international agreement or applicable rule of international law; |
| (j) | the need to restructure the fishing industry to address historical imbalances and to achieve equity within all branches of the fishing industry; |
| (k) | the need to promote equitable access to and involvement in all aspects of the fishing industry and, in particular, to rectify past prejudice against women, the youth and persons living with disabilities; |
| (l) | the need to recognise approaches to fisheries management which contribute to food security, socio-economic development and the alleviation of poverty; and |
| (m) | the need to recognise that fish may be allocated through a multi-species approach. |
[Section 2 substituted by section 2 of Act No. 5 of 2014]
