Minister of Fisheries addresses the industry The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Mr Bernhard Esau held his annual fishing industry address at the Municipality of Walvis Bay last week Thursday. The main focus of the meeting was based on the overview of the fishing industry and aquaculture when it comes to economic performance as well as the state of the stock. The overview also focused on policy guidance, where they are heading to as a sector including the challenges they need to overcome in the financial years 2013 to 2015. According to the Minister last year started with the depreciation of the Namibian dollar against major trading currencies, however the weakening in the currency meant the Namibian Fish exporters gained on their receipts from exports. The Minister also added that with regard to the general challenges, the fishing industry continues to share with the needy. During 2013 corporate social investment (CSI) initiatives amounted to approximately N$50.8 million in the form of fish donations, school materials, monetary, health sponsorships, scholar-ships and the churches, just to name a few. “Let us continue to care for the needy among us,” the Minister urged. A lot of labour unrest was also witnessed in the industry, with industrial action such as strikes, tool-downs, go slows and work stoppages. These actions usually result in delaying the productivity pro-cess and affect the stake-holders negatively. “I would like to encourage all parties, the Fishing Industry as well as the Trade Unions to work together to resolve all unsatisfactory issues before they turn into disputes, or where it has gone too far already to follow the process of dispute resolution in order to avoid strikes,” the Minister urged. According to his ministrys employment verifi-cation report of 2013 the employment numbered 13 380. He said this compared favourably with his ministrys 5 year plan target to reach an em-ployment figure of 13 854 in the sector. The Minister added that the industry continues to improve its investments. Last year approximately N$212 million was invested, of which N $187 million was invested in a single fishery alone. New initiatives in value addition were witnessed last year such as the canning of Horse Mackerel in various sauces and flavours and the land base of Horse Mackerel in Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) bags. In this regard the ministry introduced the requirement that 2% of the Horse Mackerel TAC must be directed to the Horse Mackerel cannery as part of the Horse Mackerel value addition canning initiative under the 2014 quota allocations. However, the quota is still not allocated due to the Ministers pending meeting with the Small Pelagic Association. Regarding the state of fish stocks, the Minister said that “most of our commercially important fish stocks are showing some positive signs of recovery although there is still a need to rebuild the stocks to maximum sustainable yield (MSY) levels in order to ensure optimal contribution of such fishery resources to our economy”. Referring to the advice he received from the Ad-visory Council, to change the current Hake fishing season from the begin-ning of May to the end of April, he said that he has decided that the new Hake fishing season will run annually from 1 November to 30 September. He said that the month of October was again closed for Hake fishing during 2013. He noted that since the implementation of this measure, several members of the fishing industry have reported steady improvement in the size of fish (Hake) landed. He stated that this practice will be main-tained until further notice and that he highly appreciates the support of the industry in this regard. As far as mariculture is concerned he said that the shellfish production of Oysters and Abalone remained stable when compared to 2012, most of which were exported to East Asian, as well as South African markets. Last year he expressed his disappointment over the tendency of some lobster vessel operators to catch lobsters in the sanctuaries and that this practice is still continuing. The perpetrators are said to exploit loopholes in the existing arrangement on the deployment of fisheries observers on board the lobster vessels. Currently 20 lobster vessels, except for four, are exempted from carrying observers on board. The Minister concluded his address by saying that he was pleasantly surprised by for example, the amount of goodwill, willingness to work together and compliance with statutory requirements by most of the companies in the industry and that he is deeply encouraged by this.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:06:24 +0000
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