Marine and Coastal Management authorities in the Western Cape have revoked the rights of several commercial linefish quota holders, including a police officer, a senior navy official, a convicted perlemoen poacher and a man who had emigrated to New Zealand.
The department found that all had provided misleading information at the time they applied for quotas reserved by the department for traditional fishers.
Quotas are given when people can prove that they earn their income, or a substantial part of their income, from fishing.
The revocation of rights follows a new hardline approach by Marine and Coastal Management.
It said: "The department will not tolerate a situation in which persons abuse the system by presenting misleading information or lying under oath in quota applications."
Senior officials said its verification unit was working with independent auditing firms to scrutinise applications sent in by prospective fishing quota holders and existing holders who wanted to retain their quotas.
They said they had also investigated calls made on the department's anonymous tip-off lines.
Shaheen Moolla, chief director of fisheries and coastal management for the department of environmental affairs, said: "In the past almost no one was fined or prosecuted for misuse of the system, overfishing or blatantly lying under oath when submitting the quota application forms.
"What one has to realise is that our fisheries are under siege, and we are determined to maintain the integrity of the process and enforce the law."
In past months the department has issued 10 linefish quota holders with Section 28 notices revoking the lucrative permits that allow traditional fishers, or people who have a long association with fishing, to go out to sea and fish.
Section 28 of the Marine Living Resources Act of 1998 gives the ministry the right to revoke linefish quotas.
One stripped of his linefishing rights this week was Edwin Charles Andrews, who provided a Gansbaai address in his quota application. Andrews neglected to inform the department that he was a senior official in the South African Navy.
The notice revoking his rights read: "You have failed to respond to the Section 28 notice, which alleged that you are indeed employed by the South African Navy since approximately 1977 and that you are currently employed as a chief in charge at the Simon's Town Dockyard."
George Beeslaar, a police officer, was also stripped of his rights. The department regarded his "failure to disclose information relating to your employment at the South African Police Services as being a material non-disclosure that would have affected the assessment of your application".
The notice said Beeslaar had fallen foul of the criteria adopted for the traditional linefish sector, which was specifically established to benefit those people who earn a living, or derive a substantial part of their income, from fishing.
Another public official who didn't inform the department that he was gainfully employed outside the traditional linefish sector was Bernadus Johannes Mong, who was found to be employed as a project manager by the department of public works. He too lost his rights.
Keith Lincoln Hoffman said in his application that he lived at Lincoln Estate, Crawford. But the department found he had not made a full disclosure. "Inquiries confirm that you have emigrated to New Zealand," he was told.
Department officials said they were working closely with law enforcement agencies to crack down on organised crime.
