Paternoster is one of the oldest fishing villages on the West Coast of South Africa. It lies about 145 Km from Cape Town and 15 km northwest of Vredenburg. 

Many believe ‘Paternoster’ derives its name from the prayers of ship-wrecked Portuguese sailors whose prayers were known as “Our Father”, while others believe the term refers to the beads of the Koi tribe.

This historical fishing village is well-known for its west coast rock lobster and white-washed fisherman’s cottages. Unfortunately, the lobster is on the verge of extinction in this part of South Africa, and severe measures had to be put in place by The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) to curb overfishing and exploitation of the red-listed species. This included, amongst other things, reducing the total allowable catch per day, issuing long-term fishing rights, putting measures in place to ensure lobsters could be traced to the source to curtail poaching, and shortening the harvesting season. It is, however, still no strange phenomenon to see hawkers with illegally harvested lobster (or kreef, as people in the area refer to it in their native language, Afrikaans) trading openly on every street corner. The levels of poaching in Paternoster have been described as “epidemic” (Van As, 2020).

Sadly, this once predominantly fishing village is under severe economic pressure due to traditional rural livelihoods diminishing due to “natural resource decline, climate pressure and also modernisation” (Kimbu et al., 2022, p. 25). The villagers now depend more on tourism as a pathway for livelihood diversification to increase the number of income-generating activities to alleviate poverty in their communities.

According to Kimbu et al. (2022), the global decline in fisheries-related employment communities has forced many coastal villages, such as Paternoster, to diversify into the hospitality and tourism sector. The study’s findings by Kimbu pointed to the fact that many fishermen are reluctant to diversify, stressing that fishing “is a way of life responsible for identify formation that includes a sense of pride concerning their occupation identity” (p. 27).

Culinary tourism was identified in the research study of Kimbu as a key diversification opportunity for Paternoster. It refers to “the experience of the ‘other’ through food-related activities, whereby cultural learning and knowledge transfer of the destination and its people are facilitated” (Ellis et al., 2018, p. 253).

Paternoster has reinvented itself as a culinary tourism destination with its current, primarily hospitality-dominated offerings. Several outstanding and award-winning restaurants (for example, Wolfgat, Gaatjie, Voorstrand, De See Kat), food outlets and coffee shops, holiday cottages and guest houses and hotels provide excellent accommodation.

It was interesting to learn from the locals that lobster was on all the hotels and restaurant menus a few years ago. Since the lobster harvesting restrictions were implemented, many have removed it from their menus (fortunately still available at Abalone Hotel). We were also surprised to learn that some restaurants even reported foreign customers being “furious” when they realised they could not savour this delicacy at a particular restaurant. Instead of spending a few days in Paternoster, they would rather venture towards Cape Town, where every bit of seafood on the market would be available to them.  

In this review, Petra and I will share our experiences at Abalone Beach Villas in Paternoster, part of the Abalone Hotel. Unfortunately, we were only one day in Paternoster. We did not have enough time to explore the area as much as we would have liked to make valuable recommendations for you about things to do in the area. We will have to go back and revisit this quaint little fishing village.