Poorest regions get fewest fishing rights

Poorest regions get fewest fishing rightsKhomas, Erongo come out on top Remarking on the poor rights allocation, the minister said this was because those regions had only applied for certain species of fish. OGONE TLHAGE







WINDHOEK

The country’s most impoverished regions have been left with the fishing rights scraps.

According to the official allocations announced by fisheries minister Albert Kawana on Wednesday, the Kavango East and West, Omaheke, Kunene, Oshana and Zambezi regions are among those that got less than 4% each of the total rights.

Applicants from Omaheke account for 1.4% of the allocated rights, while Zambezi is at 1.3%, Kavango West 0.4% and Kavango East 0.3%, Kawana said.

Remarking on the poor rights allocation, the minister said this was because those regions had only applied for certain species of fish.

“They applied for few fish species such as horse mackerel and hake, unlike other regions which applied for all fish species.”



Winners

Meanwhile, Khomas and Erongo were among the regions that performed well as far as the allocation of fishing rights was concerned. Khomas was allocated 11%, while Erongo landed 9.9%.

Omusati (5.9%), Otjozondjupa (5.8%) and Oshikoto (5.5%) also saw a fair allocation of fishing rights made to them.

Breaking down the figures, Kawana said 125 processing companies had been awarded fishing rights, accounting for 29% of the total allocation.

“These are companies with established onshore processing capabilities such as factories and offshore investments in the form of fishing vessels. As already pointed out, applicants received from new applications number in their thousands. Out of this number, 213 became successful - or 71% of the successful applicants,” Kawana said.

Notable companies that have been allocated fishing rights for hake include Tunacor, Hangana Seafood, Diaz Fishing, Omaru Fishing and Novanam.

Companies awarded fishing rights for horse mackerel include Cadilu Fishing, Huab Fishing, the Namibia Fishermen Association and Namibia Marine Resources.

Kawana noted that it was the first time fishing rights were allocated to all 14 regions of Namibia.