Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Etosha sells three vessels, retrenches 19 employees

Home Front Page News Etosha sells three vessels, retrenches 19 employees

WALVIS BAY – Pilchard catching Walvis Bay-based fishing company, Etosha Fishing Corporation has been forced to retrench 19 of its employees and also to dispose three of their vessels due to poor catches in foreign waters. Etosha was forced to deploy the three purse seine vessels to Angola and other foreign countries after government imposed a ban on all pilchard catches for the period 2018 to 2020 to sustain jobs and the running costs of these vessels. The three vessels are the Prowess, Advance and Morgenster.

The industry was allocated 10,000 metric tonnes during 2017, but could only catch 3,400 metric tonnes of the total allocation Hence government, in an attempt to help save the pilchard fish resource, which is in danger of extinction in Namibian waters, resolved the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the species be set at zero metric tonne for the 2018-2020 fishing season.

The pilchard industry provided seasonal and permanent jobs to about 3 000 Namibians.  Due to the low catches experienced, two canning facilities closed, with Etosha being the only operating canning facility. 
  
Acting Managing Director of Etosha Fishing, Nezette Beukes yesterday said that low catches were also experienced in foreign waters, resulting in huge operation financial losses for the company.

“This left the company with no other choice but to sell all our purse seine vessels,” she said in a statement yesterday.

According to Beukes, Etosha is also not in a position to provide employment to the crew of these vessels due to the company’s financial position.

She went on and explained that the retrenchment process was done through the Namibian Seamen and Allied Workers Union (Nasawu), while a formal notification was also issued to the Labour Commissioner. 

“Affected staff members were initially informed of possible retrenchments in December last year as we wanted to make sure that they are well informed from the start of the process, to avoid any uncertainty and to ensure transparency,” Beukes explained.

According to Nasawu vice-president Epson Kavekuire, Etosha finds themselves in a very difficult position for the past couple of years and are understanding towards their situation.

“The union is oppose to any job losses, but Etosha is caught in a very difficult position. If they cannot catch, they cannot provide work,” he explained.
He however expressed his satisfaction with the manner in which the process was concluded by the company.

Etosha Fishing currently operates one vessel only.  The vessel, Iona, was converted to a refrigerated seawater vessel (RSW) at a substantial cost in 2018 to be able to fish in local waters, landing horse mackerel fresh for processing at its cannery in Walvis Bay. 

Etosha Fishing operates the oldest cannery in Namibia and currently employs 44 permanents and close to 550 seasonal staff at its cannery. The mainstay of its business over the years has been the canning of pilchards for leading brands such as Lucky Star and Glenryck South Africa.

Etosha has been importing frozen pilchards for canning since 2010 to avoid job losses after experiencing low pilchard catches in the fishing industry. Last year, the company imported about 13 000 tonnes from Morocco.

The company is also canning locally catched horse mackerel since 2013   and selling it under its own product range called EFUTA Maasbanker.