{"id":101339,"date":"2026-04-23T14:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:00:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:00:40","slug":"president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage","title":{"rendered":"President Urges Fishing Industry to Engage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>WALVIS BAY \u2013 President Netumbo Nandi- Ndaitwah has told players in the fishing sector that she is not in Walvis Bay to \u201cplay games\u201d but to listen and engage directly with the industry.<\/p>\n<p>The President jetted in yesterday morning, flanked by Vice President, Lucia Witbooi, Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare, minister of agriculture Inge Zaamwani, and justice and labour minister Fillemon Immanuel, to engage the fishing industry.<\/p>\n<p>The industry is currently facing growing tension, with protests and labour disputes becoming a recurring feature. Workers have staged demonstrations calling for fair quota allocations and stronger job security, amid concerns over restructuring and continued layoffs in the sector. Apart from that, the industry, despite reporting over N$10 billion in foreign currency earnings, has imported while battling a decline in fish stocks.<\/p>\n<p>Another bone of contention in the sector is the ongoing dispute surrounding the government\u2019s redress programme, which was intended to provide employment opportunities for fishermen who lost their jobs following the 2015 strike. The programme has faced persistent challenges since its inception, despite various interventions by government aimed at stabilising and improving its implementation<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not here to play a blame game. We have come to listen with an open mind to those who experience the realities of this industry every day. I am here to discuss and listen, so that we can understand the challenges facing the industry and find a way forward together,\u201d the President told industry players in a fully packed hall of the Atlantic Hotel.<\/p>\n<p>The President told stakeholders that the engagements form part of the 8th administration\u2019s efforts to oversee the implementation of the Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), aligned with the SWAPO Party election manifesto for 2025\u20132030 and Namibia\u2019s Vision 2030.<\/p>\n<p>She said the fishing industry remains one of the country\u2019s key economic sectors and a strategic national asset, as it continues to provide employment, income, foreign exchange earnings, and contributes to food and nutrition security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is therefore important that this sector is sustainably managed and developed for the benefit of all Namibians. As an executive, we are here to get first-hand information from the industry\u2019s main role players,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She acknowledged that the sector has undergone significant changes over the years, affecting jobs and livelihoods, adding that the industry is not what it used to be, and that changes\u2014some necessary and others difficult\u2014have affected many Namibians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is through open and constructive engagement that we can develop practical and responsive measures to address these challenges. There are growing concerns around the sustainability of fish stocks, and this requires our collective attention,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She also appealed to the industry to be mindful and take into consideration the current state of the country\u2019s marine resources, which have been declining.<\/p>\n<p>She added that the engagements are about listening, understanding and reflecting together on the way forward, as well as looking at what is working and where improvements are needed in the sector.<\/p>\n<p>As part of her visit, the President is also expected to tour the Vessel Monitoring System Centre, the research vessel Mirabilis, and fishing factories to observe operations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Namibia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. WALVIS BAY \u2013 President Netumbo Nandi- Ndaitwah has told players in the fishing sector that she is not in Walvis Bay to \u201cplay games\u201d but to listen and engage directly with the industry. The President jetted in yesterday morning, flanked by Vice President, Lucia Witbooi, Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare, minister of agriculture [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":101338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-101339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>President Urges Fishing Industry to Engage - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WALVIS BAY \u2013 President Netumbo Nandi- Ndaitwah has told players in the fishing sector that she is not in Walvis Bay to \u201c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Urges Fishing Industry to Engage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WALVIS BAY \u2013 President Netumbo Nandi- Ndaitwah has told players in the fishing sector that she is not in Walvis Bay to \u201c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T14:45:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T15:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1776943630.17729.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"President Urges Fishing Industry to Engage\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T14:45:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T15:00:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage\"},\"wordCount\":537,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1776943630.17729.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/president-urges-fishing-industry-to-engage\",\"name\":\"President Urges Fishing Industry to Engage - 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