WALVIS BAY - Two vessel captains, of whom one is manning the Heinaste vessel that is currently embroiled in a legal battle over its ownership, appeared last week in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court for allegedly fishing illegally in Namibian waters.

Court documents indicate that the Icelander Angrimur Kristinn Brynjolfson (67) is manning the Heinste horse mackerel trawler, while the Russian national Fetisov Iurii (58) is captaining the Venus trawler.
The duo allegedly contravened the Marine Act by fishing in a restricted area.

The illegal fishing was done between 30 October and 13 November this year. Both were granted bail of N$100 000.

Ironically, the Heinaste vessel was once owned by Esja Holding – part of Icelandic firm Samherji, which featured in the Fishrot files scandal, which has implicated a number of Namibian officials, including two former cabinet ministers.

The vessel was expected to be sold to a Russian company.
It is, however, not clear whether the sale was successful due to the ownership of the vessel that was in dispute.

Sinco Fishing and Epango Fishing were among five Namibian companies that formed a joint venture with Samherji HF, as part of Esja Holdings and co-owned Heinaste.

The Namibian shareholder paid N$260 million to co-own the vessel, before Esja Holdings allegedly tried to sell the vessel to a Russian company, despite numerous bids by their Namibian partners to stop the sale of the vessel.