Hatching conflicts: rout reproduction, properties of water, and property ownership in South Africa

Abstract

Trout were introduced to South Africa in the late nineteenth century with colonial fanfare, but since the 1990s, post-apartheid legislation has declared trout alien and sought to reduce their numbers. Both the initial introduction of trout and contemporary debates are entangled with ‘properties’, in the dual sense of land claims and biophysical traits of fish and waters. Trout introductions were part of colonial enclosures; now, attempts to control them are seen by many white owners as a state attempt to undermine private property. Trout become a site for conflict because they struggle to spawn in South African waters and are largely dependent on hatchery reproduction, which makes them available for legislative acts that can eliminate owners’ ability to maintain private stocks. Attention to links between these dual meanings of property illustrates how contestations over land-waters in contemporary South Africa are shaped by the ongoing effects of more-than-human colonial projects.