WALVIS BAY - The fisheries ministry has expressed concern over the state of the horse mackerel stock and urged the industry to avoid its unsustainable harvest.
Horse mackerel, the largest fish stock harvested in Namibian waters, has had a total allowable catch of not less than 300 000 metric tonnes over the years. South Africa and Angola also engage in horse mackerel harvesting, with Namibia exporting most of its catch to West African countries.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated that 70% of the fish population is fully-used, overused or in crisis. Two-thirds of the world’s fish stocks are either fished at their limit, over- fished, or do not get adequate time to recover.
During the annual fishing industry address at Walvis Bay, a scientist in the ministry Graca D’Almeida raised the alarm about the stock’s status. She said the size of horse mackerel has decreased over the decades, and catches have become unsustainable.
“You can see that our catches are not sustainable. So, if we continue at the current trend, the outcome will not be good. One thing that we have also noticed scientifically about this stock, which is critically important, is the size of the population. Data from 1970 to 1991 shows that we had a lot of fish in the population,” she added.
D’Almeida said the average size of the catches was around 28 to 29 centimetres, which has gradually decreased. “The size of the fish has dropped to around 17 to 18 centimetres.”
Fisheries minister Derek Klazen likewise expressed concern about the fate of horse mackerel, fearing that it could face a similar fate as the pilchard species, for which the government imposed a ban in 2017 in hopes of stock recovery.
“Our horse mackerel is under threat. My worry about horse mackerel is that it might go the same way our pilchards went. I really feel for the horse mackerel industry — the freezer trawlers, the wet trawlers — I feel for you. The freezer trawlers stay out so long at sea. Imagine with fuel prices up how these people are struggling for 30 days at sea and come with low catches. Usually, they would only be out at sea for 12 days,” he observed.
Earlier this year, fisheries executive director Annely Haiphene informed journalists that the government is conducting an experimental initiative. This was after the Wet Landed Horse Mackerel Association requested permission to fish within the restricted zone, claiming that larger-sized horse mackerel migrate to shallow waters. She clarified that the ministry could not ignore the association’s request, leading Cabinet to authorise an experiment to collect data.
“I want to make it very clear when we are saying we are doing experiments. In fact, out there they are saying we allowed fishing to take place in the 200 metres zone. This is not correct; it’s an experiment that is done jointly between the industry and the ministry. So far, we have only agreed to have two vessels, one trawling inside the 200m and the other outside because we want to compare the data to see what will come out as it is an experiment, so that we can then confirm or refute the claim that the bigger fish moved or migrated into the 200 metres zone,” Haiphene said earlier.
- edeklerk@nepc.com.na