Photo: Adam Hartman Fishing A Publication of · technology is a fish monitoring system which uses a speed and symmetry sensor to aim ... to the fish sorting and grading conveyor;

A Publication of

FishingPhoto: Adam Hartman

Tuesday 26 February 2019 2 Fishing

MANDATEThe Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has a mandate to sus-tainably manage the living aquatic resources and promote the aquaculture sector. The mandate of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources is derived from the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, various policy and regulatory instrument established the Ministry in 1991. The primary policy and legislative instruments for MFMR are:

• The Marine Resources Act 2000 (Act No. 27 of 2000);• The Marine Resources Regulations (Government Notice No. 241,

Regulations relating to the exploitation of Marine Resources, 2001)• Namibia’s Marine Resources Policy: Towards Responsible Devel-

opment and Management of the Marine Resources Sector (August 2004); and

• The White Paper on the Responsible Management of the Inland Fisheries of NAMIBIA (1995);

• Inland Fisheries Resources Act (No. 1 of 2003);• Aquaculture Policy;• Aquaculture Act 2002 (Act No.18 of 2002), and• Aquaculture Regulation on Licensing

Key Strategic Interventions• Rebuilding of the Stock• Namibianisation Policy• Monitoring, Control and Surveillance• Infrastructure development on Processing Plants

The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources is a party to a number of regional and international Fisheries Organisations, Commissions, Conven-tions, Protocols and Treaties and has made provisions of these instruments in its policies, programmes and management measures to implement them at national and regional levels for the benefit of the Namibian and SADC people. Therefore, this Ministry welcome all SADC delegates to 38thSADC Summit in Namibia, and please enjoy our beautiful ocean and living aquatic resources.

VISION To be a leading fishing nation with a well-developed aquaculture industry

MISSIONTo responsibly manage living aquatic resources to continuously ensure a conducive environment for the fishing and aquaculture sector to prosper.

CORE VALUES• Transparency• Accountability• Equity• Honesty• Loyalty• Diligence

PILLARS AND STRATEGIC OBJECTIVEPILLARS• Fisheries and aquatic resources management• Effective efficient delivery of fisheries Monitoring, Control and Sur-

veillance Services• Policy and Legal Framework• Socio-economic development and• Operational efficiency

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES• Encourage scientific advice on the sustainable management of the

marine ecosystem• Strengthen compliance with fisheries legislation• Develop blue economy policy and legal framework• Strengthen the development of aquaculture• Improve contribution of value added export s to national economy• Increase employment of value added exports to national economy• Enhance organizational performance

Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR)Head Office Tel: +264 61 2053911 (switchboard)Private Bag 13355 Fax: +264 61 233 286Brendan Simbwaye Square, Block C URL: www.mfmr.gov.nac/o Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda & Goethe StreetsWindhoekNamibia

REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIAMINISTRY OF FISHERIES AND MARINE RESOURCES

OUR PROFILE

Hon. Minister Benard EsauMinister

Hon. Sylvia MakgoneDeputy Minister

Dr. Moses MaurihungirireExecutive Director

Tuesday 26 February 2019Fishing 3

Walvis Trawl Import & Export CC is a long established supplier and

assisting fishing company in net repair and new builds of trawls. The company was established at Walvis Bay in November 1995 under the name Walvis Trawl (Pty) LTD, then owned by Hampidjan Group from Iceland.

In 200, the name of the com-pany was changed to Hampidjan Namibia until Hampidjan Iceland sold the company in 2011.

Now the company is owned by Asmundur Bjornsson ICE, re-

named Walvis Trawl. Experienced netmakers control all manufactur-ing in the company.

They ave been making all types of trawls from small monk trawls to Spanish bottom and semi-pe-lagic trawls to big mid-water trawls.

The company has been export-ing fully rigged trawls, trawl wire and other goods for trawling, mostly to South Africa.

The company has introduced quality netting and twine from Hampidjan Group and Cotesi, wire from Portugal Oliveira SA

and different iron ware from Danish manufacturers.

Walvis Trawl is the sole agent for Marport fish monitoring in Namibia and has implemented this new technology to help captains find the fish and monitor the trawl and trawl doors.

The company is selling trawl doors from Danish door manu-facturer Thyboron Doors. Walvis Trawl is working closely with partners in education and helps solving problems that come up when working on different bottom grounds.

Walvis Trawl supplying the industry

Walvis Trawl are the sole agent for the Marport’s Deep Sea Technology in Namibia. This technology is a fish monitoring system which uses a speed and symmetry sensor to aim

and allows for the exploration and monitoring of trawl and trawl doors in order to indicate the movement of fish in the trawl and codend.

Marport TE-150-NBTE is the compact digital single axis net sounder of the Trawl Explorer family, it is supplied with the mounting plate allowing easy operation on head rope or tunnel.

Marport compact Trawl Speed TSG-0-00 is the latest product introduced in the market. And It integrates a high resolution dual axis EM log to measure along and across (Symmetry) speeds.

Furthermore, it is fully compatible with existing trawl speed brackets and receivers. The unit has pitch integrated and can be set to function as grid sensor; thus making it the most

flexible and technically advanced digital trawl sounder in the world.

Walvis Trawl

Walvis Trawl | Address: Ben Amathila Ave PO BOX 2953, Walvis Bay | Cell: +264 81 124 2700Email: [email protected] Namibi


The MFV Oshiveli (oshive-li meaning “firstborn” in Oshiwambo) has caught

her first fish.In January 2019 during her sea

trials off Walvis Bay, the brand new MFV Oshiveli owned by Tunacor Fisheries Ltd landed her first catch.

The custom-built and-de-signed 53 metre vessel with a cargo capacity of 500 tonnes and

a freezing capacity of 40 tonnes a day, was partially built in Spain and completed at Walvis Bay.

The factory deck, which is the heart of the vessel, was designed, built and installed by Bennett’s Engineering in cooperation with Baader Namibia and Tunacor. This installation was completed in a record time of 22 working days at Walvis Bay.

The Oshiveli’s intended catch

comprises horse mackerel and white fish such as hake, which this vessel’s modern high-tech factory deck is able to complete-ly process on board.

From controlling the flow of fish from the factory “stokka pond” inlet by means of hydrau-lically powered elevators and conveyors; to the fish sorting and grading conveyor; then on to heading machines and tail

saws, gutting tables and rotary washers; then packing for freez-ing in the ship’s blast freezers; or directing the white fish to the sophisticated Baader heading and filleting machine; then on to fillet conveyors for hand-sort-ing, grading and weighing and packing into freezer trays before being slid into the ship’s plate freezers; and finally the frozen blocks of fillet being boxed and

strapped, this factory is one continuous slick operation.

MFV Oshiveli is a wel-come introduction to the age-ing Namibian fishing fleet. Equipped with her custom-de-signed and -built factory deck, this will enable Tunacor Fisher-ies Ltd to maximise their catch potential and thus increase revenue and employment at Walvis Bay and Namibia.

MFV Oshiveli – Tunacor’s ‘Firstborn’ goes fishing

Supplied by:


GENDEV, which prides itself as the first ever, in the history of Namibia, to open a state-

of-the-art horse mackerel onshore processing plant, has a long presence in the local fishing industry and is still going strong. Initially starting off in the pilchard industry, the company took the decision to reconfigure the cannery into a wet horse mackerel onshore processing plant to support the government of Namibia in their struggle to bring prosperity to all Namibians and lift standards of living through onshore employment created by the fishing industry.

“This decision of the sharehold-ers of Gendev has led to major investments in the factory and the acquisition of a specialised wet landing horse mackerel vessel, the Krossfjord using own shareholder funds and that of local banks,” the

company said. The wet onshore processing plant, which is 72% Namibian-owned, was inaugurated in 2014 by fisheries and marine resources minister Bernhard Esau.

Adding vAlue Gendev offers ownership in

N$220 million worth of property, plant and equipment. The company is also part owner of N$200 million worth of vessels, including a long line hake vessel; a horse mackerel freezing vessel, a vessel to land wet horse mackerel for value addition onshore, and two small pelagic vessels. It has, in addition, offered participation in an experienced fishing, processing, marketing and selling group of companies with established value-added products and markers, creating through its operations 939 Namibian jobs.

This is for its wet landing and on-shore processing of a value addition horse mackerel quota, wet hake catch and processing, as well as sea frozen horse mackerel. The workforce due to onshore processing consists of 55% females versus 45% males. Gendev uses its N$100 million Na-mibian-flagged vessel, Krossfjord, to catch and land wet horse mackerel at its factory to process onshore.

Gendev also uses its N$50 million Namibian-flagged vessel, Venus I, to catch and freeze horse mackerel freezer quota on sea.

The vessel owning companies are majority Namibian. Gendev has spent N$60 million upgrading and expanding its factory to a state-of-the-art onshore processing horse mackerel factory that not only packs frozen products but also adds value onshore. “Horse mackerel

1kg IQF retail bags, Omega polony made of horse mackerel, and horse mackerel sausages are amongst the value-added products that have been introduced to the markets and can already be found in retail stores throughout Namibia and South Africa under the brands of Gendev.”

SuStAined proSperity The company also added that it

is committed to support the govern-ment’s call to bring about prosperity to all Namibians as per the fifth Na-tional Development Plan (NDP5). “…and thus during the 2018 right application process (we) humbly requested minister Bernhard Esau and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources to grant Gendev a long-term horse mackerel right and to allocate to their right a 55 000 tonnes of horse mackerel quota,

Krossfjord, and processed onshore to sustain full employment at its shore -based processing plant, as well as 20 000 tonnes horse mackerel to be processed and frozen at sea through its investment in the sea frozen vessel Venus 1.”

other contributionSGendev has consistently ploughed

back to the community through corporate social responsibility ini-tiatives, while along with its related subsidiaries and associates, has come up with measures to ensure access to quality education for chil-dren in rural areas that would qualify them to pursue higher education. It also opens markets for the compa-ny’s value-added horse mackerel products and creates opportunities for entrepreneurship.

– Article supplied by Gendev

Gendev gears up to scale new heights

•LUQMANCLOETE

THE Fonteintjie community fish farm at Keetmanshoop has set a target of producing one tonne

of fish per year.The fish farm is run by the Ministry of

Fisheries and Marine Resources’ tech-nician, Peter Simasiku, in collaboration with the //Kharas Regional Council.

It was established to create employ-ment for the youth, and to reduce pov-erty in the local community through the sale of fish to them at affordable prices.

Simasiku, in an interview with The

Namibian, was positive that the fish farm will soon yield the targeted results to feed more needy people and to create job opportunities.

He explained that the six ponds at the farm are each stocked with 2 000 tilapia and catfish each, and that harvesting takes place once a year.

“We intend to harvest twice a year – after every six months – to reach our target of producing one tonne of fish per year,” he said.

The technician said fish consump-tion at the town has increased sig-nificantly after the project started its

operations 10 years back. “Currently we do not sell the fish harvested at the ponds because the priority is to assist the needy people to add high-value protein to their diet,” he added.

The fish farm is undergoing a facelift, which includes the construction of a fence, several buildings, ponds, water supply infrastructure and the installa-tion of septic tanks. The overnment invested N$21 million in the renovation work, which started in 2014, expected to be completed by February 2016. However, the renovation work is still incomplete.

Fish project aims to produce more

Photo: Luqman Cloete

FiSh FArMing … Fish ponds at the Fonteintjie community fish farm at Keetmanshoop.

DISTRIBUTION Currently the Gendev Fishing Group supplies customers in:

Namibia • South Africa • Mozambique • Zimbabwe • Zambia • Angola • Malawi • And the D.R Congo

Gendev is the market leader in IQF Horse Mackerel 1 kg packs and currently has 2 Brands

(Gendev Brand exclusively for Shoprite and U-save and Namibia Fish Brand which is supplied to various other Retailers within the country and across the border).

Our IQF retail bags are now available in all Metro branches Country wide Visit any Branch near you

ValUe aDDeD pRODUCTS INClUDe: IQF, Omega fish polonies, Horse mackerel spreads and Horse Mackerel sausages For more information please visit our website: www.gendevfishinggroup.com

Location: Ben Amathila Avenue No. 98, Walvis Bay | Tel: (+264) 64 274 300


•ADAMHARTMAN

THE Namibian government has set the con-sumption target of 21,4kg fish per Namibian by next year, and the Namibian Fish Con-

sumption Promotion Trust (NFCPT) is tasked to deliver this.

The target is the world average per cap-ita fish consumption.

The chief executive officer of NFCPT, Victor Pea, told The Namibian that, al-though Namibia is one of the major fish producing nations, it was lagging behind the world average as far as fish consumption is concerned. At the moment Namibia is at just over half the target with 11,4kg per person a year.

“Namibia needs to consume, at least, at the same level as the world average. There is an immense health benefit to consuming fish regularly,” he said.

This will only be possible though if the fishing industry plays along, which is a chal-lenge as the trust has to restructure its strategic objectives and partner with industry to meet the target.

“In order to take this new target hands-on, we have started engag-ing stakeholders with the view to partner with the private sector in fish distribution and sales locally. This will further stimulate en-terprise development, mainly small and me-dium size businesses,” said Pea.

In fact, the NFCPT signed a collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resourc-es, on data collection and statistics analysis.

“In addition, the trust is in the process of collaborations with the industry to enter into more partnerships within the next finan-cial year,” he said.

NFCPT was es-tablished in March 2001 per Cabinet res-olution, and mandat-ed to promote fish consumption within Namibia by making fish more accessible and affordable; and furthermore, to teach the public how to pre-pare and cook fish and in so doing, attain the most nutritional value from it.

Trust expected to

net 21,4kg fish per Namibian


The trust benefits from annual horse mackerel and hake quotas from the fisheries ministry, through which local companies are engaged to offer services that include the catching of these quotas. The trust then supplies fish to the local market at affordable prices, thus enabling all social classes to afford this normally ‘expensive’ food type.

Pea said in fulfilling this mandate, the NFCPT is constantly engaged in finding mechanisms to extend and cement its footprint in Namibia, and in so doing “bring nutrition to every household”.

Furthermore, the trust holds cooking demonstrations with regional fish pro-motion activities, at trade fairs, cooking seminars and its own national fish con-sumption day (hosted since 2012).

The trust also sells fresh and canned fish and fishery products, mainly horse mackerel, with limited quantities of other products such as hake and various by-catches.

“Our mission is to promote the con-sumption of fish, making it accessible and affordable in Namibia. Our Vision is to be the preferred fish distributor in Namibia,” explained Pea, adding that both these objectives have been achieved due to the representation of its outlets within the country as well as making fish affordable and accessible.

Since its establishment in 2001, the trust sold 54 526 tonnes of fish locally.

“However, more still needs to be done, and we are in the process of revisiting our vision to capture the new focus of NFCPT as the institution matures and new fish consumption targets are set. This is to ensure that we remain relevant and thus continue to operate,” he said.

Currently, there are 16 fish shops across Namibia and within 12 regions, except Zambezi and Otjozundjupa. Khomas, Erongo,//Karas and Oshana regions each have two shops.

Pea said the trust is planning to expand its footprint to Zambezi before March.

Besides that, it is in the process of securing land at Otjiwarongo to set up shop in the 2019/2020 financial year.

Pea said the greatest success to date was for the trust to promote fish consumption in 12 regions through its outlets, while the other two regions are also being covered by the regional fish promotions that take place monthly.

There are serious challenges though.“Our customers are demanding a

variety of fish species in our fish shops as we mostly only have horse mackerel and hake due to allocations received from the fisheries ministry. The challenge is to have a product mix of by-catches. However, these products are purchased at market price, and they are not in reliable supplies due to their nature of non-targeted species.

This poses accessibility and affordabil-ity challenges to the trust,” explained Pea.

Another challenge is the line ministry’s requirements for the industry to increase the national consumption rate to 21,4kg within a year.

It forces the trust to restructure its strategic objectives and partner with the fishing industry to meet the target.

“Getting the private sector onboard remains a challenge due to conflicting priorities. However, we are engaging the industry to establish a middle ground and attain a win-win situation,” he said.

Pea called upon the business com-munity, notably fishing companies, to rally behind the call for more local fish distribution and sales.

“It’s only through making more fish available locally that we can attain the target of 21,4kg. Furthermore, I appeal to the fishing industry to make themselves available whenever we call upon them to either partner with us or participate in various fish promotion initiatives that we engage in. I urge all Namibians to embrace fish as an alternative healthy source of protein.”

FISH CLEANING ... Com-mercial and recreational ski boat operators gather at Swakopmund’s fish clean-up spot nearly on a daily basis to descale, gut, rinse, fillet and salt fish – mostly snoek and kabeljou – caught during the day. The cleaning provides jobs for some of the unemployed locals while fish heads and cut-offs are also a treat for the poor who use such leftovers for fish soup.

Photos: Adam Hartman

ABOUT UUKUMWE SEAL PROCESSSING FACTORYThe Uukumwe Youth Empowerment Consortium (PTY) Ltd Seal Processing Factory owned and managed by Namibians was inaugurated on the 18th August 2017 in Luderitz by Hon. Bernhardt Esau, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, with the aim of enabling the processing of Seals Pelts, meat, blubber and its by-products, recorded well progress for its second season since it started operating. The company also owns fishing rights for Horse Mackerel and Seal.

The company has completed construction of phase one of the factory mainly consisting of its primary production and phase two will be driven on value-addition, which will include an Oil Refinery amongst others. The factory currently has 36 employees is expected to create more than 50 direct and indirect additional jobs upon the completion of Phase two.

[email protected]


RESEARCH ... The National Marine Information and Research Centre (NATMIRC) of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources based at Swakopmund, is the headquarters for marine specialists; and a national support system for

knowledge creation and knowledge management; providing access to relevant, appropriate and timely information in support of the mandate of the ministry. It boasts a comprehensive research library and also houses the national aquarium.

Photo: Adam Hartman

Westmed brings medical supplies and services to your doorstep•ADAMHARTMAN

WESTMED’s vision is to be a ‘next-door neigh-bour’ supplier in medical

goods and services, with the mis-sion to deliver goods to all medical and healthcare facilities in Erongo on the same day.

In 2012 Westmed was added to the Avacare Group, and started with a team of only five employees. Since then they have grown to 13 employees and they have to give their clients a full range of select-ed pharmaceutical products and a variety of medical equipment, disposables and instruments.

“Westmed reduces the burden of overnight delivery to Erongo. We stock products for same-day delivery, making the region much more efficient,” Westmed general manager Mandi van der Lith told The Namibian.

Their equipment is readily avail-able to the public with a technician available at the coast, and they also offer maintenance services on all items they sell, especially their equipment. On top of that, they do medical inspections on vessels with medical facilities.

“Pharmaceutical products are

not only required by hospitals and pharmacies but are crucial for our fishing and logistics industries as well. We stock a large variety of dis-posables and laboratory products. Our gloves are certified for food handling, giving our clients ease of mind,” explained Van der Lith.

What sets them apart from their competitors, she said, is their strong connections throughout southern Africa, which makes them “more efficient as a whole”.

“It enables us to provide better service and products at affordable pricing. Our sales team are fully trained and each dedicated to their portfolio ensuring they have full focus on their products and clients,” she explained.

She said the medical industry requires a large variety of products making stock holding a challenge, however, with constant communi-cation to their clients, Westmed strives to have correct and sufficient stock of what the clients require.

As for future plans, Van der Lith said the business was currently ex-panding its warehouse which will allow them to expand their current product range.

Westmed is situated in the Me-dipark Complex, Dr Putch Harries

Westmed reduces the burden of overnight delivery to Erongo. We stock products for same-day delivery, making the region much more efficient.

– Westmed general manager Mandi van der Lith

Drive, at Walvis Bay. The business has two sister companies in Na-mibia, Erongomed in Windhoek and Newmed in northern Namibia.


•ADAMHARTMAN

The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Re-sources, for the past 28 years, travelled a journey of continuous change, exploring

new paths to success and greatness in the quest to position Namibia to be a leading nation with a well-developed aquaculture industry.

“This requires passion and commitment of motivated team members, embedded in the reality that we will face challenges together, and achieve successes together. As a team, we have learnt to overcome our challenges together, rise above our limitations as well as to exceed our dreams,” fish-eries minister Bernhard Esau told The Namibian.

The Namibian fisheries sector remains lucrative in the Southern African Development Community with roughly N$10 billion earned in foreign cur-rency in the 2017/18 financial year. With TAC of about 530 000 MT per annum, direct employment in the fishing sector was recorded at about 16 800 in 2017. This makes the sector the third largest employer after mining and agriculture as well as the second GDP contributor after mining.

The fisheries sector comprises several value chains, starting with fishing, where rights are exercised, processing, logistics, supply and many other economic activities that lead to employment creation, skills transfer and GDP earnings for the country.

Esau said Namibia adopted a “right-based” approach to limit access to fishing activities, en-suring the sustainable exploitation of this precious resource.

“A fishing right is a sovereign decision by the government, to allow fishing access to its citizens. These policy intentions allow the government to regulate the marine resources in a sustainable manner, in which all the citizens share benefits from the fish resource. Since independence, we had pursued these policies of ensuring that access to fishing is controlled through issuance of rights, and the amount of fish caught is pre-determined

through rigorous scientific stock assessments,” he explained.

PlANNiNgThe ministry has a five year strategic plan

(2017/2018 – 2021/2022) which is informed by the fifth National Development Plan, the Harambee Prosperity Plan and guided by Vision 2030.

These planning documents underpin all its de-velopment priorities in the fisheries sector.

The fisheries sector in NDP5 has committed to the following objectives: By 2020, Namibia will have implemented a blue economy governance and management system that sustainably maximises economic benefits from marine resources and ensures equitable marine wealth distribution to all Namibians.

By 2022, Namibia is to be the key fisheries and processing hub in the South West Atlantic Ocean through increasing the volume of fish handled, canned or processed at Walvis Bay cumulatively by 40%; Implement the current 70/30 value addition ratio to the horse mackerel subsector (that is pro-cessing 70% of the fish on land and the rest at sea).

The ministry’s strategic plan articulates how these governmental objectives will be imple-mented.

MoNiToRiNg,CoNTRolANDSuRveillANCe

Namibia, at par with the best managed fisheries sectors in the world, invested heavily in monitoring, control and surveillance activities. These include a vessel monitoring system, aerial patrol planes and patrol vessels capable of enforcing compliance across its entire exclusive economic zone.

“These measures combine to ensure that Na-mibia’s fisheries are one of the best managed in the world,” said Esau.

He said challenges remain of illegal unreported and unregulated fishing activities in Namibia’s northern maritime border with Angola, as well as illegal activities in Namibian rivers, particularly

in the Okavango and Zambezi rivers, involving the use of illegal (undersize) nets.

To address this situation, Esau said the ministry has approached the Namibian Police and Namibia Defence Force to patrol the northern border.

“The fishing industries have shown interest in assisting the ministry with resources to increase our monitoring coastal patrols. The ministry has also succeeded in a coordinated government and inter-governmental approach to address this matter urgently, and resources have been mobilised to this effect.

Our fisheries observer agency and inspectors (both inland and maritime) also continue dis-charging their responsibilities diligently in order to protect our fisheries,” Esau explained.

In addition, Namibia assented to the UN Ports States Measures Agreement, which aims to prevent and deter illegal fishing through the implementation of effective port state measures, and thereby to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources and ecosystems.

FiSHeRieSSToCkNamibia’s fisheries sector is “healthy and sus-

tainable”, both in terms of stocks, and economically as well, Esau said.

During the period of 2017/18, the total allowable catch (TAC) for various fisheries was 507 276 tonnes, compared to 521 714 tonnes in 2016/17, representing a marginal decrease of about 3%.

These fish and fisheries products are valued at about N$10 billion, making fisheries the second largest forex earner for Namibia, after mining.

According to Esau, Namibia’s fisheries sector’s total landings range between 510 000 tonnes and 550 000 tonnes annually, 99,5% of this being marine, whilst inland fisheries and aquaculture together contribute about 1 500MT annually.

JobSvSToNNeSThe ministry has succeeded in facilitating em-

ployment creation in the fishing sector by imple-

menting a TAC scorecard that evaluates the number of jobs created per tonne. This focus is in line with national goals, and is underpinned by the policy aspiration to enhance distribution of fisheries wealth to all Namibians. Employment, together with resource rent such as taxes, levies and fees; and corporate social responsibility, are important tools in this policy objective. Statistics shows that more than 16 510 people were directly employed in the fishing sector in the 2016/2017 financial year. Esau said this number is expected to increase as a result of the ministry’s policy objective.

“In 2018 we saw the opening of fish processing factories and investments in acquiring fishing vessels. All these investments will lead to em-ployment creation for Namibians, particularly the youth,” he said.

TRADeFACiliTATioN Namibia, together with other SADC countries,

concluded the economic partnership agreement with the European Union, which is now in force. This agreement not only provides continued du-ty-free and quota-free market access to EU markets, but also derogations and cumulations on fisheries.

This allows Namibian the private sector to source fish from various countries, add value here in Namibia, and export it to EU destinations. It also provides for projects to develop sanitary and phy-tosanitary standards capacity of the private sector and the ministry. Esau said this is a competitive advantage presented to the Namibian fishing sector to access global fisheries markets.

Towards a blue economy

Bernhard Esau

Our Planet

Our Products

Our Community Our PeopleWe have a very deeply entrenched Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) philosophy and programme, which is premised on four key pillars. These are our Planet, our People, our

Products and our Communities in which we live, operate and do business within. We are fundamentally socially minded companies committed to our mantra, being “the sustainability of natural resources and of our partner communities, whose trust we build and maintain by acting ethically and creating value”. We are most proud of that fact that our CSR plan is in

direct alignment with the Strategic Plan 2018-2022 of the Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources, as well as the NDP5, Vision 2030 and the Harambee Prosperity Plan.

NovaNam and Lalandii are Lüderitz based fully vertically integrated fishing and processing companies and we employ 2.100 people in the country. We are proudly Namibian companies for whom Wealth Creation through Capital Intensive Industrialisation for the country continues to be our paramount endeavour. We are looking forward to further broadening our Namibian shareholder base with our Empowerment Transaction during the course of 2019, which will also directly include each and every one of our Namibian employees, our strategic associate partners as well as communities that we serve in.

Together we work to be the best food company in the market by bringing the freshness of the sea to the consumer’s table.

We rely on our brand and innovation to fish, select and process the best product wherever it maybe.

We belive our first responsibility is the sustainability of natural resources and of our partner communities, whose trust we build and maintain by acting ethically and creating value.

(Pty) Ltd


ADAM HARTMAN

LANDING around 550 000 tonnes of fish a year, the Namibian fisheries sector is small compared to the landings of a few million

tonnes a year in countries such as Peru, Chile or even Morocco, but that does not mean Namibia’s fisheries value is small. In fact, it is a massive pillar of the country’s economy.

That is according to the chairman of the Con-federation of Namibian Fishing Associations, Matti Amukwa.

“When looking at the role that fisheries plays within the national economy, it is interesting to note that in Namibia, fisheries represents around 7% (N$10 billion) of GDP whereas in South Africa, which lands more fish than we do, the industry only makes up around 2,2% of GDP,” Amukwa told The Namibian.

Amukwa elaborated that the large landings of Peru are predominantly small pelagic fish which is turned into fishmeal and oil.

The Namibian industry, on the one side, produces high quality products which find good acceptance in the sophisticated European retail markets while the horse mackerel industry is also contributing to food security on the African continent through sales into countries such as Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and to some extent Nigeria.

DevelopMeNTsThere are new factors that are helping to define

and position Namibia’s fisheries management.One such fact is the fisheries ministry’s ‘score-

card’ that challenges industry participants to meet certain conditions that will benefit the country and its people, and in so doing the participant will also enjoy privileges from the government. One primary privilege is quota allocation.

Amukwa explained that the ministry has taken the requirements as set down in the Marine Re-sources Act, that rightholders must comply with if they are to be granted a quota, and established a scoring and weighting procedure which – when

operational – will “take subjectivity out of the allocation process” replacing it with the scorecard.

According to Amukwa, the industry has been involved in the development of the new quota and final consultations with the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources are expected to take place soon.

Once this is finalised, the weighting of the indi-vidual scoring issues will be concluded.

“More than 5 000 rights applications were received last year and the process will take more time than expected because the rights applications require much more detailed information than in the past. This, again, needs to be verified and checked, or even require applicants to provide further information, which is a time-consuming process,” explained Amukwa.

“Only once the process has been completed can the industry and the ministry look back and formulate ideas on how to improve the process in the future. The main interest of the industry is that fishing and processing do not suffer from the ongoing process.”

Keeping in mind that the industry comprises different types of fisheries, each concentrating on a particular species, the sectors’ fishing, processing and marketing are developed around the species caught, Amukwa said.

Central to the fisheries is the fish stock, which determines what amount of fish can annually be landed without damaging the biomass. If fishing is done at maximum sustainable yield, it means that the maximum extraction level has been reached and the fisheries can no longer grow through increasing the catch rates.

“This, however, does not mean that the economic benefit from the species cannot increase. On the contrary, through adding value, in other words making the final product more convenient to the consumer, jobs can be created, and the income generated from fisheries increased,” said Amukwa.

Monk, crab and horse mackerel species are fished at this maximum yield, and so are looking at value addition which, for example, has resulted in the building of a land-based horse mackerel

factory at Walvis Bay. Shore-based processing allows a greater variety of products to be made than onboard processing.

Mukwa believes that the hake and rock lobster fisheries have not yet reached maximum sustain-able yields and there is growth potential in the biomass, albeit at a very slow pace.

“This does not preclude the fisheries from add-ing value and the hake sector is leading the way by producing large volumes of high quality, high value and convenient consumer products, which are retailed in the supermarkets of Europe. The rock lobster fisheries is exporting live lobster to the markets in China where the product achieves a premium price,” he explained.

success AND cHAlleNgesBecause Namibia’s fisheries sector is mature,

it is difficult to see big success stories, but rather small, incremental changes that get lost in the bigger picture.

These ‘small’ developments include new vessels joining the fleet, and not just second-hand ones that the industry has relied on to date, but vessels constructed to suit Namibian conditions.

“Other companies have placed orders and their vessels are under construction with delivery expected this and next year. Processors extending value addition are required to invest in plant and equipment, which is also constantly taking place,” he said.

There is the proverbial ‘shark in the net’ when it comes to challenges the industry will be facing, and that, according to Amukwa, is the potential threat of marine phosphate mining.

“It is vital the government forges ahead with a long-term research programme, not sponsored by potential phosphate miners. This process will take time and will require international assistance. It needs to show what the potential impact of phosphate mining is, not only on the fisheries, but also on the shore environment. Sea mining for phosphate has an onshore component, the separation of phosphate, which has not yet come under the spotlight but which is inseparable from

the actual mining offshore,” explained Amukwa.On the long-term, climate change is also ex-

pected to impact the industry and, through marine spatial planning and other initiatives, the industry is getting informed and will be working towards remedial actions.

Illegal fishing in Namibia’s northern border is “very disturbing”, according to him. Fishing also takes place in the protected areas.

“Fish caught illegally is then dumped in the same market with legal fish, thereby undercutting the prices of Namibian companies. Illegal fishers don’t pay taxes or government levies. These illegal activ-ities are also counter-productive to the management measures put in place by the fisheries ministry for the sustainable managing of resources. This fish is also not accounted for. These illegal activities should be stopped sooner rather than later, and the industry is more than ready to assist where it can when called upon,” he said.

goveRNANceDespite opposition to the government’s fisheries

management in some circles, Amukwa believes governance of the sector has been to the benefit of the country.

“When taking over fisheries at independence, several stocks were critically overfished, and the government needed to re-build these stocks. A conservative approach to catches has allowed resources to grow and be maintained, or otherwise conserved through moratoriums, such as is the case with pilchard. This all shows we are moving on the right track,” said Amukwa.

He said the ministry has a good team of scientists who monitor the biomass in the sea and establish the annual total allowable catch while landings are controlled, vessels fitted with individual tracking devices and compliance with fishing gear regulations and seabird scaring devices also well controlled.

“Namibia follows the rules of the FAO and is a member in several initiatives ensuring the long-term survival of the fisheries industry,” Amukwa said.

Nam fisheries is no ‘small fry’ – Amukwa


THE Namibian fishing industry is faced with several challeng-es, one of them being the skills

requirements for the sector.According to the Pelagic Fishing

Association (PFA), its members have realised a growing demand in the southern African market over the past five years. However, their ability to meet this demand was constrained by a lack of capacity and of specialised personnel on vessels (like engineers, operational/technical personnel).

Where there are extreme labour shortages, members are forced to hire from abroad, which raises problems with Namibia’s work permit system. The PFA is advocating better training of sea-going personnel to solve these issues.

The Namibia Large Pelagic and Hake Longlining Association gave a gloomy assessment of the five years between 2011 and 2016, stating that since the beginning of seismic opera-tions in the fishing zone, catches have fallen from a high of 4 600 tonnes to the current 1 000 tonnes, with the decline being worse over the past three seasons.

Hope is now pinned on the seismic activity task force and the inter-minis-terial task force on seismic activities to address the issue of fishery losses and to pursue the possibility of limiting seismic activities to the off-season.

Regarding the issue of staffing, the pelagic and hake association high-lighted the problem of recruiting sen-ior and experienced staff, stating that it is not possible to find an experienced vessel skipper in the local market. Members have to hire from abroad;

again, work permit requirements can be cumbersome and delay activities.

Low-level skilled workers are readily available in the local market, however, and the association stated that the subsector could employ a lot more people because long-line fishing is labour intensive.

The Namibian Mariculture Asso-ciation said after the global financial crisis, production stabilised between 2012 and 2013 and has been increasing steadily since then. Many of its oper-ators opted to diversify production in order to cross-subsidise losses in other product lines.

This expansion is taking place under difficult conditions because banks are generally not keen to lend to aquaculture.

The fresh water component is much better off because of government support; but the mari-culture subsector has not been so lucky; it has to con-tend with a long application process through Agribank to access finance.

Regarding staffing, the mari-culture subsector mainly relies on in-house training, especially for managerial po-sitions. Operators sometimes manage to find local skippers who then have to double up as supervisors to assist with operational activities like monitoring water colour and temperature. For this subsector, recruitment can all be done from the local labour market.

The Namibia Hake Association gave a bright assessment of the op-erational environment between 2011 and 2016, stating that demand was growing and that there are prospects to expand the market beyond Spain (which constitutes 60% of the current

market) to include Italy. The association’s members reported

no problems with recruiting proper staff; these companies often have internal training policies to improve the productivity of their workers.

They are also able to better retain their workers, especially those enti-ties with year-round operations. The main challenge for NHA is recruiting skippers and experienced engineers.

Although the Namibian Maritime Fisheries Institute (Namfi) trains seagoing personnel, some members of the association questioned the quality of these training programmes. Some operators send their workers to South Africa for training.

NHA members also complained about the lack of transferability of qualifications, which means that the qualifications of vessel operators trained in Namibia are not recognised in South Africa and Angola, where they may seek employment during the off-season.

However, it is anticipated that the levy on the fishery sector will improve the availability and the quality of sector-trained workers. It is also an-ticipated that lobbying of the institute and government should bring about standardisation and transferability of qualifications.

– Taken from the African Growth & Development Policy (Agrodep) paper titled ‘An Analysis of the Fishing Industry in Namibia: The Structure, Performance, Challenges, and Pros-pects for Growth and Diversification’. Paper done by Blessing Chiripanhura and Mogos Teweldemedhin.

Skills are a Challenge to Fishing Sector/FSF11

79

INVESTING IN OUR MARINE RESOURCES

2018Completion of a 14,000 m2 fish processing facility, the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fishcor owns 40%.

2019The new Pelegic Processing facility, worth N$530 million, began production in Walvis Bay. It has the capacity to process 600mt per day and employ over 700 people.

We believe in maximising the benefits from our allocated fishing quotas and continually look for opportunities to expand our operations, by investing in projects that will contribute to the industry’s development. This approach enables us to become a leader in the catching, processing and marketing of Namibian fish and fishery products, in both local and international markets.


The Reintegration of Walvis Bay... years on25ON 28 February, Namibia will commemorate the 25th anniver-

sary of the reintegration of Walvis Bay into the country. Walvis’ reintegration ensured that Namibia’s right to fish freely in part of its waters and the port assets were returned. In anticipation of that historic celebration, the following piece by Nick de Voss reflects on some of the events and persons that helped shape that part of Namibia’s history. De Voss does not claim to be absolutely accurate with his version of events, but wrote what he remembers and what he cherishes.

Namibia’s independence arrived in 1990. We took possession of our entire land mass but minus our only deep-sea harbour, Walvis Bay, which was still firmly under South African occupation.

In the heady days of our initial euphoria we marvelled endlessly at our new-found freedom and did not harass South Africa (SA) in terms of our Constitution, Chapter 1, Article 1 (4) which states: “The national terri-tory of Namibia shall consist of the whole of the territory recognised by the international community through the organs of the United Nations as Namibia, including the enclave, harbour and port of Walvis Bay, as well as the off-shore islands of Na-mibia, and its southern boundary shall extend to the middle of the Orange River”.

The following year and the one thereafter came and went and the ownership of Walvis Bay did not change hands. Immediately after

our independence SA set up ‘border posts’ south of Swakop Bridge and between Walvis Bay and Rooikop Airport staffed by SA soldiers. Which Namibian who lived at or visited the coast at the time can ever forget the provocative searches conducted by young SA conscripts on Namibians and visitors alike on their way to Walvis Bay or to Rooikop and back?

Behind the scenes, in the mean-time, Namibia’s former consummate diplomat, the late Theo-Ben Gurirab, and his then SA counterpart, the late Pik (Roelof) Botha, were putting out feelers about our government’s claim that Namibia’s independence could never be complete without Walvis Bay’s reintegration.

It was an uphill battle though, as SA’s National Party would not easily be swayed to compromise on the strategic importance and territorial integrity of the enclave of Walvis Bay where so much of SA’s resources over so many decades had been

invested in terms of infrastructure (roads, bridges, schools, other government buildings, the port, et cetera), services and telecommu-nications.

A month after the two governments signed the Walvis Bay Joint Adminis-trative Authority (JAA) agreement in November 1992, the ‘border posts’ were abolished, and the JAA started its work in February 1993.

A chief executive officer (CEO) was appointed on each side – Nan-golo Mbumba who would represent Namibia, and the late former SA ambassador to the UN, Carl von Hirschberg, who would be the SA envoy. Each CEO was assisted by a group of advisers: Mbumba had me (Nick de Voss) as administrator; Sackey Akweenda as legal expert; the late Joop Robberts as financial adviser; and Jason Angula as com-munity adviser.

Von Hirschberg was assisted on a full-time basis by his legal adviser

John Viall. SA technocrats would be invited to sit on the JAA executive committee (exco) from time to time.

The JAA’s exco was tasked to negotiate a peaceful settlement around the modalities of Namibia’s claim over the enclave of Walvis Bay and the 13 off-shore islands with their exotic names: Penguin, Ichaboe, Plum Pudding, Long Is-land, Pomona, Albatross, Sinclair, Halifax, Possession, Seal, Mercury and Holam’s Bird.

With the exception of one exco meeting held in Cape Town, all the others took place at Walvis Bay. Issues discussed centred around education, health, social welfare, fisheries, immigration, the Walvis Bay port including the synchro lift, the value of government assets, ownership transfers, and expecta-tions of Walvis Bay residents, among others.

The JAA collaborated closely with bureaucrats in Windhoek at central


government level: the Office of the President; the Office of the Prime Minister; various line ministries such as finance; mines and energy; en-vironment and tourism; education; agriculture; justice and others.

We also developed healthy work-ing relationships with parastatals NamPower, TransNamib, NamPost and Telecom.

The JAA entered into serious dia-logue with the Walvis Bay municipality (represented by then mayor Manuel Castro and the town council), repre-sentatives of fishing companies and owners of other business entities. The late Swapo firebrand, Nathaniel Maxuilili, Jack Brown, Jan Wilkens, Bryce Edwards, and numerous ordi-nary residents, politicians and busi-ness personalities frequented the JAA offices and made their views known to us. We visited schools and com-munities and explained our mission with them and were received with open arms.

On 16 August 1993, ironically on Mbumba’s birthday, events which would accelerate the Walvis Bay is-sue and make the enclave’s return to Namibia irreversible, took shape in SA.

SA’s major political parties were in the midst of the Codesa (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) talks in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, when a PAC (Pan Africanist Congress)-sponsored resolution – secretly co-authored by Namibia – was unani-mously adopted: It stipulated that the two governments should meet to resolve any outstanding issues on Walvis Bay and set a date for the transfer of the enclave to Namibia.

Soon after this, Mbumba was ap-pointed as agriculture minister and succeeded by Petrus Damaseb as Namibian CEO on the JAA.

On 8 September 1993, Gurirab and Botha, at a meeting in Pretoria, set 28 February 1994 as the date on which Walvis Bay was to be reintegrated into Namibia. Only six months remained to map out the details and organise the handover ceremony.

Technocrats and legal experts from both countries had the arduous task of drafting detailed agreements for the handover of inter alia the port’s assets; laws had to be drafted and adopted by both governments’ parlia-ments; there were the questions about who of the senior port staff would be retained, and who would return to SA; government buildings had to be trans-ferred to the Namibian government; and postal and telecommunications services had to be integrated into the Namibian state-owned enterprises as was done with all other local authori-ties in 1990 at independence.

The two countries’ defence minis-tries had to organise the handover of the military airport at Rooikop. Other arrangements included invitations to, and transport and accommoda-tion for, the thousands of local and foreign guests expected to converge on Walvis Bay for the reintegration celebrations.

When 28 February eventually ar-

rived, the JAA organising committee, in collaboration with our central gov-ernment colleagues – especially those at foreign affairs, the Presidency, Office of the Prime Minister, finance, home affairs and justice – were ready to receive the guests.

Thabo Mbeki, Kobi Coetzee, Sonya Gandhi and Jerry Rawlings were some of the high-profile guests at the wonderful celebrations of the reintegration of Walvis Bay and the

off-shore islands. An unforgettable pyrotechnic display lit up the night sky. Gifts big and small were exchanged, and friendships were formed. The reintegration celebrations reminded us strongly of the joyous atmosphere at Namibia’s independence in 1990.

Gifts I will always cherish were a beautiful box of aromatic Indian tea which I received from Ms Sonya Gan-dhi and a personal visit by the only Namibian leader who came to the JAA

offices to thank the team members individually for a job well done – then home affairs minister, former president Hifikepunye Pohamba.

– Nick de Voss was the right-hand man of Nangolo Mbumba. Mbumba was the chief executive officer for the Joint Administrative Authority, a body which was tasked to oversee the re-integration of Walvis Bay from South Africa to Namibia on 28 February 1994.


DESIGN, MANUFACTURE,INSTALLATION OF

REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS

Know-how plus professionalism lead us to assume great challenges. We pay attention to the client needs and combine our capacity of innovation with our wide experience to provide the client with the most suitable installation by designing and adapting it to the present and future needs, from a technical point of view.

Our Consulting and Engineering Department always pays special interest to the reliability, safety, automation and energetic efficiency of the installations.

QUALITY

At present, a quality certificate has become a necessary introduction letter for any worldwide company. The engagement with the quality is essential in our company as it is the best transmission way towards our clients.

MAINTENANCE

EXPORT RADOPA, authorized refrigerating conservation and maintenance company offers the possibility of hiring a complete maintenance service of the refrigerating plant to all its clients so as to meet the regulations in force. In addition to

carrying out the regular checkout of the installation (according to the internal maintenance protocols), EXPORT RADOPA will advise you to meet the necessary legal requirements.

REPAIR

EXPORT RADOPA goes with you during the useful life of your plant to carry out the necessary repairs, replacements and solving in an efficient way any situation that could happen.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

The efficient response provided by our staff is highly valued by our clients and this is an important pillar at the moment of hiring our services.

REMOTE FACILITY MONITORING

Install the free software, give us your access code and select “Connect.” Connection is only permitted for the first 2 minutes, if you so choose, and is completely safe.

OPTIMIZATION AND AUTOMATION

Our engineers will advise you to improve your installation by reducing the energetic consumption and improving the plant efficiency. The automation of the installation allows its easy control through a touch screen and the remote processing of the same.

ENGINEERING

EXPORT RADOPA counts on own skilled personnel and develops the whole project from the beginning to the end of the same that increases the added value of each project.

Special importance is given to factors such as energy efficiency, safety, reliability and profitability of the installation.

16th Street Erf 564 Walvis Bay,P. O. Box 4131,

Walvis Bay, Namibia

VAT NO. 336619701

Tel (+264) 221134,Fax (+264) 221135,

Email: [email protected]


•ADAMHARTMAN

WALVIS Bay Mecal Re-frigeration Technologies operate under the Export

Radopa Group Namibia under the roof of its brand new N$20 million facility at Walvis Bay.

The company was established in 2010 and focuses on industrial refrigeration for the fishing indus-try, which includes vessels, fish processing factories and land and onshore projects.

“Refrigeration is a vital com-ponent as far as fishing is con-cerned,” said Mecal’s Rafael Dopazo Sanchez, explaing that the company assembles its own refrigerator units, ice machines and chiller makers, “We saw an opportunity to serve fish-eries through project management, development and implementing and

introducing the latest technology to this industry.”

The company also understands that it is also a competitive industry and therefore top service delivery, technology and quality are prior-ities in its business which it faces head-on.

Mecal is currently working on its N$5,3 million project in Angola that will have a freeze capacity of 4,5 tonnes per hour and they claim that it will also be the biggest capacity freeze tunnel installed in Africa.

Mecal’s branches are in Spain (headquarters), Cape Town and Namibia, and the company employs 34 people.

Sanchez says Walvis Bay Mecal is the only company in Namibia that can design any refrigeration project from the start to the end with the most advanced technology in the market.

THERE are seven associations in Namibia’s fishery sector: the Pelag-ic Fishing Association (PFA), the Namibia Hake Association (NHA), the Midwater Trawling Association (MTA), the Namibian Monk and Sole Association (NMSA), the Namibian Tuna and Hake Longlining Associ-ation (NTHLA), the Namibia Large Pelagic and Hake Longlining Associ-ation (NLPHLA), and the Namibian Mariculture Association (NMA).

GeNeRAlcoNDiTioNsofopeRATioNs

The PFA expressed concern about the underutilisation of capacity dur-ing the off-season. Its members end up with substantial surplus capacity, which could be used to process other types of fish. Some firms already do this by stocking and/or importing frozen fish, which they then process during the off-season.

The PFA members mainly sell their fish to South Africa, where their product is in high demand. There has not been much effort to expand their market regionally, for two reasons.

First, there is still unsatisfied de-mand on the South African market; second, the regional market is highly price sensitive such that the profit margins are very low.

Moreover, there is high competi-tion in the region from Chinese and Thai products that are both lower quality and lower price.

The PFA stated that one of its main challenges is the high cost of capital, given the high cost of vessels. It also argued that there is a need for the government, through the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade, and SME

Development, to grant manufacturing status to PFA members; this would give them tax relief so that they can build the capital base to invest in new vessels.

The NTHLA noted that the main challenge facing its members are high operational costs, particularly due to the majority of foreign-owned vessels (mainly from South African coun-tries) that operate in the region. Of the association’s seven locally owned vessels, only two were seaworthy at the time a survey was done in 2016.

This big dependence on South African vessels shows the vulnera-bility of the fisheries sector in the sense that if no vessel comes from South Africa, then there will be no long-line fishing. Many quota owners cannot put together enough money to buy their own vessels, and financial institutions are reluctant to lend the required amounts of money.

In addition, fishery operations are threatened by seismic activities stemming from oil explorers and drilling companies want to operate their rigs during the fishing season, which interferes with fishing and fishing stocks.

The bulk of the fish harvested by NTHLA members is exported. South African vessels used in their fishing operations buy all the fish caught at an agreed-upon price. These prices are low, implying a low return on the fish caught.

Lack of local value addition means that potential jobs are exported to South Africa.

However, for operators, it makes sense to export their fish because they cannot invest in fish processing when

they do not own any vessels (as they do not have control over the supply of the raw material).

The NTHLA called for value addition to fishing rights so that its members can generate more income in order to build the capital to buy their own vessels.

The association proposed that, since the fishing season runs for only six months of the year, of which South African vessels come for only one to three months, there is a need for both more local vessels that can operate for the full six months and other activities to occupy the remaining six months.

The NTHLA proposed that the quotas should, as in earlier years, include harvesting other fish species, such as horse mackerel or hake. This would eliminate the seasonality of operations, and processing capacity could then be established.

Like the PFA, the NTHLA also cited access to finance as a big bot-tleneck; the association also pointed to high interest rates as inhibiting growth.

A main concern was that the international quota for Namibia is continuously being reduced because Namibian fisheries are failing to meet it.

The NTHLA’s fear is that its mem-bers may lose the international quota altogether, or that it could become so small that some fishery operators would have to leave the industry.

In addition, there is no guarantee that Namibia will be able to push for its quota to be increased since what it loses is allocated to other countries (e.g. Taiwan) that are always able to meet their (new) quotas.

HAKesecToRTopsAllThe hake subsector is the most pros-

perous of the fishery sectors; it is also the most advanced sub-sector and is a major contributor to both government revenues and employment.

The NHA has been working with the government to land the bulk of its catch (70%) for onshore processing. However, the association felt the playing field in the hake subsector is skewed in favour of companies with large freezer capacity, as these com-panies have lower incentive to land their catch onshore because frozen fish can be exported from offshore.

They suggested that the government must establish a formula that ensures that companies with large freezer capacity land a reasonable portion of their catch. This could be done through tying quota allocations to amounts landed for processing and the number of jobs sustained.

lAcKofReNoWNeDBRAND

Members of the NHA face a number of bottlenecks.

First, they find it very challenging to enter new markets because of a lack of knowledge and specialty marketing skills. There is no renowned Namibian fish brand, and the government some-times have differing requirements that make exporting difficult.

One example is the difference between the ministry of agriculture and the Ministry of Fisheries and Ma-rine Resources regarding trade with China. While agriculture has been negotiating for direct exports of beef to China, fisheries tends to leave it to individual fishing companies to find

their footing in the Chinese market. Because of stringent market access conditions, the fishing companies export to China indirectly.

At present, lobster goes to China via Hong Kong, rather than directly as a Namibian product.

In addition, access to finance is a major limitation to expansion. The fact that quota levels in the next pe-riod (following year) are not known makes financial institutions hesitant about lending to licence holders. It may be necessary to ensure that allo-cated quotas are not changed beyond a certain level (for example, 10%) per year so as to increase financial institutions’ confidence in fisheries operators. Regarding value addition, the NHA sees a lot of potential among its members. New companies are innovating and coming up with new products, and there is the potential to produce more specialised cuts of fish and to enter secondary processing to produce fish fingers, ready-made meals, etc.

However, these advanced process-ing stages require the cooperation of the ministries of finance and indus-trialisation. The latter would need to grant operators manufacturing status so that they can get rebates that would allow them to build capital and invest in more machinery.

* This is an excerpt from the Afri-can Growth & Development Policy (Agrodep) paper titled ‘An Analysis of the Fishing Industry in Namibia: The Structure, Performance, Challenges, and Prospects for Growth and Diver-sification’. Blessing Chiripanhura and Mogos Teweldemedhin did interviews with the Namibian fishing sector.

Namibia’s fish the coolest catch around with Mecal

Fishing Associations and Firms’ Perspectives


•HELGESCHÜTZ

ANGLING in Namibia plays a big role in the economy of the country, with thousands

of jobs created in numerous sectors. A town like Henties Bay, for

instance, is mainly dependent on angling and without the sport, its economy would grind to a halt, ac-cording to the PRO of the Namibia Bass Angling Association (NBAA), Andrew Hall.

“Henties is a fishing mecca and destination for both tourists from mainly South Africa and local fish-ermen wanting to get away for the weekend. These tourists spend money on accommodation, food, fuel and bait when staying at Henties Bay.

“There are also a few fishing tour operators based at Henties who make a living taking tourists out to fish either by car or by boat. These operators in turn employ gillies who assist anglers to put bait on their hooks, clean the fish, know fishing spots very well and earn money that way,” he added.

Besides Henties Bay, several lodg-es throughout Namibia like Cape Cross and Terrace Bay and some situated in the Zambezi region exist, because they are situated at prime fishing locations to which anglers flock from all corners of the world. They, too, offer a lot of employment opportunities in the industry.

ComprEHEnSivESurvEyFresh water angling’s contribution

to the economy was further under-lined by an in-depth survey that the Namibia Bass Angling Association launched three years ago, which came up with some interesting results.

A total of 132 active anglers in Namibia completed the survey which amounted to about a third of Namib-ia’s registered fresh water anglers.

In actual fact, the findings need to be multiplied by three to get an idea of the economic impact of angling in Namibia.

According to the survey the average annual expenditure in the Namibian angling industry amounted to about N$8,6 million.

Vehicle insurance was the biggest expense, amounting to N$1,8 million, while fuel expenditure for angling purposes amounted to N$1,2 million.

Other major expenses included boat maintenance (N$945 000), food and beverage expenditure at Namibian fishing venues (N$754 000); travel expenses to reach foreign angling venues (N$666 000); accommoda-tion expenditure at Namibian sport fishing venues (N$623 000) and boat insurance (N$531 000).

Other smaller expenses included frozen bait (N$206 000); medical supplies, directly related to fishing (N$124 000); car wash, directly related to fishing trips (N$118 000); entry fees, park fees and boat launching fees at sport fishing ven-ues (N$120 000); local community support (N$88 000); club, association

or federation fees (N$138 000); fishing magazines (N$72 000) and boat trailer licence fees (N$48 000).

Multiplied by three, this amounts to a total expenditure of about N$26 million in the Namibian angling industry, while the average expend-iture per angler amounted to about N$65 000.

HuGEEConomiCimpaCtThe total Namibian economic

impact amounted to close to N$77 million, after incorporating once-off and ongoing purchases.

This includes the value of angling boats in Namibia (close to N$20 million) and the value of vehicles purchased with towing and fishing in mind (roughly N$51 million).

Other expenses include marine electronics (about N$2 million), bass fishing tackle (about N2,5 mil-lion) and sport fishing tackle (N$1,6 million).

Marine electronics, like most elec-tronic devices, are constantly being improved by their manufacturers and as a result, anglers are always buying the latest models available. Fishing tackle is also constantly being improved and anglers are regularly buying the newest and most advanced tackle.

Multiplied by three, this amounts to a total economic impact of about N$220 million, at an average of about N$583 000 per angler.

Furthermore, Namibian anglers contribute about N$822 000 to foreign economies within southern Africa for bass angling. This includes N$460 000 for accommodation at for-eign bass angling venues, N$242 000 for food and beverages at foreign bass angling venues and entry, park and boat launching fees at foreign bass angling venues. This amounts to about N$6 231 per angler.

According to the survey, this figure would reduce drastically if Namibia had improved and more bass angling available.

The sport’s official governing bodies, the Namibia Federation for Freshwater Anglers (NFFA) and the Namibia Seawater Angling Federa-tion (NSAF), which are both affiliated federations with the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC), officially have more than 800 members. Added to this are the countless recreational anglers, both locally and from abroad that contribute a lot to the economy.

With these figures in mind, it be-comes evident and the figures support the fact that recreational and compet-itive sports angling in Namibia still holds a lot of socio economic impact value and can positively contribute to Namibia’s economy, both directly and indirectly.

aLaCkofSponSorSHipThe NBAA, however, receives very

little sponsorship, ranging between N$60 000 and N$120 000 per year, and which is sourced from two or three main sponsors, including Bank Windhoek, while other organisations

also contribute to events or prize sponsorships for competitions.

With angling’s major impact on fishing communities and the fishing sector as a whole, one would expect more support and sponsorship from the fishing sector, but currently they only have one sponsor that is connected to commercial fishing, namely Deepcatch Trading, which is a distributor or wholesaler of cold storage products including fish and fish products.

Hall said they struggled to obtain sponsorships.

“It is very difficult to obtain sponsorships as bass angling is not a spectator sport. We offer our sponsors mileage in terms of adverts on our Facebook page, our website and newspaper articles. Most of our international events are funded out of anglers’ own pockets and we do not receive any contribution from the Namibian Sports Commission,” he said.

Hall called for support from com-panies to help restock their fishing resources.

“We are a very conservation-aware organisation and would appreciate fi-nancial support from organisations to improve or restock our current as well as new possible fishing destinations. More dams stocked with fish would give our anglers the opportunity to gain experience in different locations improving their fishing skills and being able to compete better at an international level,” he said.

“It would also present those dams and communities with the opportu-nity to attract more fishing tourists and generate an income. If a dam like Hardap for example was stocked with bass, it would be the ideal place for Namibia to host international events, giving us huge exposure and income to resorts like Namibia Wildlife Re-sorts,” he added.

“Currentl, many of these projects

are funded by the NBAA and its members from either fund-raisers or personal contributions, but it is a drop in the ocean of what is actually required to make a difference,” he concluded.

abriEfHiStoryoftHEnbaa

The Namibia Bass Angling Associ-ation is but one facet of the Namibia Freshwater Angling Association (NFAA) with the other prominent ones being the bank anglers facet and the artlure facet.

The NBAA was established in 2000 when four clubs were formed under the rules of BASS in the Unit-ed States, to whom the NBAA was affiliated at the time.

The chairman of the NBAA at the time, Andrew Hall, started negoti-ations with advocate Louis Botes, who was the president of the NFFA at the time, and after two long years of negotiations they eventually got registered as a new facet.

The NBAA was awarded Namibian colours for the first time in 2002 when they held a three-test series against Swaziland with two tests taking place at the Von Bach Dam and the third at the Goedertrow Dam in Natal.

Hall organised several dry weather clinics at Friedenau Dam with top South African anglers like Darryn van Heerden, Justin Booth and John Bulpitt training Namibian anglers in the finer arts of bass fishing, and the standard of the local anglers gradually improved.

The NBAA also started with a bass relocation programme and held bass catching sessions at Friedenau and Von Bach dams and transported the fish by truck in 44 gallon drums to Oanob Dam outside Rehoboth.

“We also held many fund raisers to finance the importation of thousands of Florida Bass fingerlings by air to Oanob Dam,” Hall added.

Namibia is now a proud mem-ber of the worldwide bass angling community and regularly competes in regional and international events.

Namibia competes in Region 5 of the SADC region along with South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozam-bique and Swaziland and at their last tournament in 2018 finished last.

Last year Namibia also competed in the triangular President’s Test against South Africa and Zimba-bwe, coming last, as well as the World Black Bass Championships in Mexico where they failed to make an impression.

Besides that, individual anglers have also excelled in recent years with Namibia’s James van Rooyen finishing eighth at the B A S S (Bass Angler Sportsman Society) tourna-ment in the United States a bit more than a year ago.

That was some achievement as more than 100 anglers from all over America and several other countries compete in the tournament, where the top three anglers get invited to compete in the Bassmaster Classic, the ‘holy grail’ of all bass fishing tournaments in the world.

Namibia is currently also com-peting at the ‘Olympic Games’ of angling, the Sport Fishing World Championships (SFWC) which started in South Africa on 9 February.

More than 7 000 anglers and officials will be in action with 13 different world titles up for grabs.

Locally, the NBAA has six national tournaments and one national trials for anglers to try and qualify for the national team, where about 30 anglers normally compete.

Some of the top events include the Corporate Bass Challenge – a fund-raising event where each Namibian angler takes two non-anglers for a day of fishing, and the annual Sum-mer Bass Challenge where more than 100 anglers normally participate.

Angling’s contribution to the Namibian economy

Photo: Contributed

AMBASSADORS ... The Namibian team which competed at the Sport Fishing World Championships in South Africa, from left: Jurgen Geiger, Richard Grant, Thinus Williams, Max Pieper, Andre van Vuuren, Johan Coetzee and Neil Engelbrecht.

Documents

Photo: Adam Hartman Fishing A Publication of · technology is a fish monitoring system which uses a speed and symmetry sensor to aim ... to the fish sorting and grading conveyor;