Walvis Bay
The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources has urged the public to refrain from applying for fishing rights, as no one has yet been invited to apply. Minister Bernhard Esau says his office has been bombarded by applications for fishing rights, while no such invitations have been published inviting people to apply.
Addressing the annual fishing industry meeting last Friday at Walvis Bay, Esau said some of the new applications fishing rights are even backed by current fishing right holders with vessels.
“Nobody was invited to apply for new rights. There is a procedure that needs to be followed when it comes to the issuance or the granting of fishing rights. These procedures are spelled out in our laws and in the Marine Resources Act,” Esau stressed.
“Invitations are backed by surveys and research that needs to be carried out on the biomasses of our fisheries stocks and if there is a continuous growth in biomass that can give us reason to invite people to apply for rights we will do so through the correct procedures,” Esau said.
He said they detected cases where existing rights holders with vessels are supporting such applications. “I think we will take steps against those right holders,” Esau warned.
As for the evaluation of rights that expired on December 31, Esau said the process has been concluded and 33 right holders were informed of their rights and status in terms of extensions.