Africa-Press – Namibia. ABOUT 30 fishermen of the Mar de Cabo fishing vessel, belonging to the NovaNam fishing company at Walvis Bay, on Sunday refused to be tested for Covid-19 before sailing.
However, they later gave in after several hours of negotations. The fishermen claimed this practice discriminates against unvaccinated crew members. The group told The Namibian they are on a no-work-no-pay contract, and cannot afford not to go to work should they test positive for Covid-19.
“They are doing this because we are not vaccinated against corona. Why do they want to test us when they did not quarantine us?” one of the fishermen asked on behalf of his colleagues.
Two crew members tested positive and were sent home. The rest of the fishermen boarded the vessel. Company chief executive officer Edwin Kamatoto could not confirm the incident, and yesterday said he was on leave.
He, however, claimed Covid-19 testing for fishermen before sailing is standard practice in the industry. Kamatoto said the company does quarantine crew members, but fishermen refused to be quarantined during their last trip and instead went home.
“Before I went on leave . . . people were asked to quarantine and they refused. They preferred to go home. They were given a schedule to report before the vessel sails in order to be quarantined.
“But they need to be tested because we cannot run the risk of fishermen infecting others while at sea,” he said. Kamatoto said returning sick employees from the sea is a costly exercise.
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