WALVIS BAY – Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta says Namibia needs to cull more seals to control the growing seals population that is estimated to be around 1.4 million.
Shifeta, accompanied by various officials and media, visited the Cape Cross seal reserve on Thursday, where he also laid the groundwork for the construction of a N$22.7 million park management station.
“People don’t understand that the seals are too many. We even asked them to give us a good method to cull them.
The seals eat more fish than what we catch,” he said during the visit.
According to Shifeta, pups eat between eight to 12 kilogrammes of fish per day while a bull eats about 16 to 20 kilogrammes of fish per day, depending on their weight. They can weigh up to 300 kilogrammes.
“We need to cull more. Fisheries gives quotas, but it is not enough,” he explained.
Government has for the past three seasons allocated a total allowable catch of 8 000 bulls and 80 000 pups to nine companies that are harvesting seals in the country. Fisheries minister Derek Klazen last month indicated during his annual fishing industry address that the industry is not happy with the growing seal population, whose proliferation continues to pose a threat to local fish stocks.
“The seal population has grown so well that it has become a problem. To this end, the ministry’s scientists’ assessment indicates that the seals stock is doing very well and indeed, the number of seals is estimated to be about 1.4 million,” he had observed during that meeting.
Klazen said the quota could be increased, but the harvesting, processing and selling of seal products is more challenging than what meets the eye.
“It appears that bulls are preferred products to be harvested, while the quota has more pups than bulls. Currently, the pups are not economically feasible.
Also, seal harvesting has become an international tool, used particularly by environmentalist groups to restrict the trade of fish and fishery products originating from countries that harvest seals,” he stated.