Students or prospective students from Waenhuiskrans may apply to the Trust for help. The only requirement is admittance to a university or some other recognised educational and training institution. In the first year beneficiaries must show that they are willing and able to study and improve their skills.

Many students have been helped to study and qualify in fields such as medicine, law, social work, education, sport management, drama, tourism, financial management, programming, scuba diving, construction and steelwork. The impact of study support is not always immediately available. In the long run it creates opportunities and new vistas for young people. Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. These new young professionals will make their mark in the coming years.

Fish House is planned as a community centre alongside the harbour. It has several objectives: It will support small businesses, be a visitors’ centre for the town, and be a heritage centre. The Cape Agulhas Municipality, the Waenhuiskrans Vissersunie, and the Trust worked together to make Fish House possible.

Research and estimations show that only ten per cent of the people who visit the Waenhuiskrans nature reserve and the cave also visit the historic fishing village. For many years, neighbourhoods were separated by buffer zones of open land. Fish House is planned to be a bridge between people, across the buffers of the past.

At Fish House, visitors can find information on small businesses, community activities, and general information about the town and the environment.

Support will be available for small businesses, especially regarding marketing and administration. More people will benefit from tourism and other economic opportunities in the region. Fish House will also be a heritage centre. Through digital media, visitors, schoolchildren, and residents will learn about the unique history of the fishing community, the sea, and the broader environment.

Fish House, the Fishermen’s Union hall, and an upgraded harbour could lead to further renewal projects and be a new growth point in Cape Agulhas.

People from the community may apply to manage the whole of Fish House or some services only. Applications will be considered by an independent panel, which will include specialists. The Union and the Trust will assist community members who wish to apply in advance. People may apply as individuals or as a group. Residents should have a significant share and advantage in any application, as Fish House is meant to benefit the community.

Fish House was discussed at many public meetings and was approved at various annual general meetings of the Union. Independent consultants undertook an environmental impact study and the required public participation processes. National and provincial governmental departments and the heritage agencies, SAHRA and Heritage Western Cape, approved the project. Final approval for the building of Fish House was obtained from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Planning of the Western Cape Government and the Cape Agulhas Municipality.

The Municipality has twice now repeated the process to approve all aspects of Fish House. One objector unnecessarily delayed the project.

When Fish House is completed, it will be a place where people can meet, visitors can be welcomed and assisted, and the history of the community and the environment will be kept alive.

Once the municipal process is finished, and the Fish House has been built, people from the community can apply to manage services and businesses with Fish House as the base. A knowledgeable and independent panel will evaluate applications. The Union and Trust will assist people with their applications. A concept invitation to manage services at Fish House will be workshopped in open community sessions before it is finalised.

The concept document is:

Fish House: Invitation for applications to provide services

Members of the fishing community in Waenhuiskrans are invited to apply to provide services for the community and for visitors from Fish House.

• Fish House will be a visitors’ centre where general and specific information about services and products in the fishing community will be available electronically and on paper.
• Fish House will provide marketing and administrative support for any existing or new enterprise from the fishing community that wants to use this service.
• Fish House will be a heritage centre where the archaeological, ecological, and human history of the environment will mainly be preserved in electronic format and made available to the larger community. It may also be an extended teaching aid to local and visiting schools.
• Fish House will also make space and facilities available to the successful applicant to serve refreshments and light meals.

The invitation to apply relates to the following services:

• Management of the heritage centre.
• Management of the visitors’ centre.
• Serving refreshments, light meals, and selling community products.

The Union and the Trust will appoint consultants for relevant training for the successful applicant(s).

Applicants may apply to manage all or any of the envisaged services and may apply as individuals or members of a consortium, a partnership, or a group. Applicants have to be part of the fishing community in Waenhuiskrans, or need to have been part of the community in the past. In the case of a consortium, a partnership or a group, people from elsewhere may be involved, but the control has to remain with people from the fishing community.

The criteria for a successful application will be the potential of the particular applicant or applicants to provide a good-quality service. A technical committee will evaluate applications through interviews and other means and make a recommendation to the executive committee of the union and the trustees.

Complete application documentation will be provided and explained in community information sessions.