SWAKOPMUND – The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform has justified its decision to award Eco Fish Farms the right to harvest 10 000 metric tonnes of pilchards under a Governmental Objectives quota.

According to the ministry, the move is aimed at safeguarding national food security and sustaining jobs at the country’s last functional cannery.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ministry explained that all pilchards fishing rights expired between 2019 and 2020, leaving no valid rights-holders for the species. 
The decision to award Eco Fish Farms the quota also follows recent debate within the fishing industry over how the government could handle the pilchards allocations, given that all rights had expired by 2020. 

Industry players had openly questioned who would benefit from the precautionary quota and whether the process would be transparent, given Namibia’s troubled history with the Fishrot scandal.

Given the limited quantity of harvestable pilchards and the time left in the year, Cabinet therefore approved the allocation on a precautionary basis in line with the Marine Resources Act of 2000.

“The primary objective of this quota is to contribute to food security, sustain employment at the Etosha Fishing Corporation cannery in cooperation with Eco Fish Farms, and generate revenue through levies, fees, and taxes,” the statement added.

The ministry emphasised that only one facility, the Etosha Fishing Corporation cannery in Walvis Bay, is currently certified by the Namibian Standards Institution to process and can fish.

Eco Fish Farms was therefore selected because it met all Cabinet-approved criteria, including Namibian ownership, vessel access, and readiness to begin harvesting immediately.

“The decision should be seen as strategic and not as corruptly selected, as purported. None of the other applicants fulfilled the criteria applied,” the ministry added.

The ministry further emphasised that while Etosha Fishing is partly foreign-owned with a 44.8% stake held by South Africa’s Oceana Group, Eco Fish Farms is 100% Namibian-owned and holds a shareholding relationship in the cannery.

Etosha Fishing Corporation last month landed its first pilchards catch since the moratorium, which was imposed to allow stocks to recover after severe depletion, was lifted.

The government has since taken the approach, with small-scale preventative quotas allowed under strict conditions.  -Nampa