Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia is intensifying efforts to combat illegal fishing activities along its northern maritime border with Angola, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, Inge Zaamwani, has confirmed.
Responding to questions in Parliament by Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) Diederik Vries, Zaamwani acknowledged the seriousness of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which poses a significant threat to the country’s marine resources and economy.
While industry estimates suggest that Namibia may be losing up to N$1.5 billion annually due to IUU fishing, the minister said the government cannot independently verify this figure due to the unquantifiable nature of unreported activities. She urged the fishing industry to share its methodologies to help develop future monitoring tools.
“To protect Namibia’s marine resources, the ministry continues to deploy Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) assets, including vessel monitoring systems, automatic identification systems, aerial surveillance, and two patrol vessels,” said Zaamwani.
“Since February this year, the ministry has ensured a continuous patrol presence in the north-eastern maritime border through the rotation of patrol vessels, equipped with radar and proximity detection systems that operate even when vessel tracking systems are turned off,” she said.
Zaamwani reveals that Namibia currently operates two primary patrol vessels, the RV Nathanael Maxuilili and the RV Anna Kakurukaze Mungunda, which carry out missions lasting up to 25 days with onboard fisheries inspectors and, where possible, enforcement officers from the Namibian Police and Navy.
Zaamwani said the ministry is in talks with the Ministry of Defence, the Namibian Navy, and the Namibian Police Water Wing to establish a northern law enforcement base, possibly near the Kunene River mouth. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is being finalised to strengthen joint operations.
Among the challenges, Zaamwani points out jurisdictional issues when vessels flee into Angolan waters and attempts by illegal operators to evade detection by disabling tracking systems or concealing identifying marks.
“Namibia has bilateral agreements with Angola and South Africa to combat IUU fishing. However, there is no direct agreement with Cameroon, whose flagged vessels have occasionally been implicated. Suspected violations are reported via the SADC Basecamp platform,” she further revealed.
Zaamwani also highlighted Namibia’s participation in the SADC Atlantic Project, launched in 2022, which supports regional collaboration between Namibia, Angola, and South Africa in monitoring and curbing IUU fishing.
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