{"id":796,"date":"2021-08-21T12:45:19","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T12:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker"},"modified":"2021-08-21T12:49:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-21T12:49:57","slug":"pilchard-research-shocker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker","title":{"rendered":"Pilchard research shocker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Namibia<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>No research has been conducted on the status of pilchards since a moratorium was placed on harvesting the species in 2017. This was confirmed by fisheries minister Derek Klazen this week. Government enforced the ban to aid its recovery after low catches were detected. The ban expired at the end of last year, but is still in place as there is no indication to date whether pilchards recovered or had been depleted.<\/p>\n

Namibia had two canning facilities that relied on pilchard quotas. However, one of the facilities closed down as a result, while the other, Etosha Fishing, is still operating, despite facing severe constraints.<\/p>\n

Moratorium will remain<\/b><\/p>\n

According to Klazen, the status quo will remain as they can only decide on the fate of pilchards once research has been done and results analysed. \u201cThis will be the first research survey since the moratorium was put in place,\u201d he said on Tuesday. He added that the ministry\u2019s scientists are best placed to do the research as they have done in the past and present with all commercial quota fisheries.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we do not need foreign experts to do the research,\u201d he stated. Klazen said the research will only start in October, despite the ban having expired last year already. \u201cIn the meantime, we are in consultations with Etosha Fishing to find solutions to their issue,\u201d he noted.Former fisheries minister Albert Kawana last year already instructed scientists to assess the country\u2019s pilchard stock to determine whether the species, which is close to extinction, had recovered before the ban is lifted.<\/p>\n

Unionists and some employees of Etosha Fishing on Tuesday criticised the ministry for not giving the pilchard issue the attention it deserves. They claim it was pure negligence that the status remains unknown, despite the fact that the ban ended long ago.<\/p>\n

\u2018Government failed us\u2019 Speaking on behalf of the employees, Turkey Hailonga said they have hardly worked in recent years because of the ban. \u201cGovernment is failing us\u2026 Our company imports fish, but it is not enough to sustain our jobs. Some of us have only work for three weeks this year. That is how bad the situation is,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Hailonga and some 200 employees handed over a petition to Etosha Fishing due to benefits and other incentives that were cut by the company. \u201cThe ban is over. Why are we not getting our pilchard quotas? Sometimes we work only a week a month. That is how bad the situation is,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Namibia Seamen and Allied Workers Union\u2019s Errki Shitana, who also represents the Etosha Fishing workers, said government should pronounce itself on the ban and rather give the company an alternative quota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cannot still do research while the employees are on the streets. What have they been doing since the ban was put in place?\u201d he asked.Etosha Fishing employs about 600 people, including seasonal and temporary workers.<\/p>\n

Keeping afloat Meanwhile, Etosha Fishing yesterday told New Era that they are being kept afloat by their mother company, Oceana Group. Etosha Fishing stated that they are importing frozen pilchards for local value addition at their factory to sustain operations and the roughly 600 jobs. The company\u2019s management further explained that since the pilchard moratorium was introduced in December 2017, they had to stop operating in shifts, hence limiting employment and income for its seasonal employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven before the pilchard moratorium, the company started importing frozen pilchards to keep the cannery operational, amid the decline of the local pilchard resource. Substantial investments were also made in thawing equipment to process the imported frozen pilchards more efficiently,\u201d the management said. They added that they have been making substantial financial losses since 2019. The company had to sell purse seine vessels and retrench some employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, Etosha Fishing has a good relationship with the fisheries ministry, and are working in close collaboration to seek alternative solutions for our current challenges,\u201d the company said. Pelagic fishery may never recover Interestingly, Norwegian researcher Bjorn Erik Axelsen, who was part of a team that carried out a regional survey on pelagic resources off the Namibian coast in 2017, indicated that pelagic fishery may never recover.<\/p>\n

The research was carried out by the most advanced research vessel, and experts who were of the opinion that the whole world was facing a crisis in terms of pilchards due to unregulated over-catching, which resulted in the collapse of pelagic fishery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. No research has been conducted on the status of pilchards since a moratorium was placed on harvesting the species in 2017. This was confirmed by fisheries minister Derek Klazen this week. Government enforced the ban to aid its recovery after low catches were detected. The ban expired at the end of last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233,272,273],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia","tag-pilchard","tag-shocker"],"yoast_head":"\nPilchard research shocker - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"No research has been conducted on the status of pilchards since a moratorium was placed on harvesting the species in 201 ...\" \/>\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\/pilchard-research-shocker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pilchard research shocker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No research has been conducted on the status of pilchards since a moratorium was placed on harvesting the species in 201 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker\" \/>\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=\"2021-08-21T12:45:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-21T12:49:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/08\/img-6120f65dc9e3c.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\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=\"4 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\/pilchard-research-shocker#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Pilchard research shocker\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-21T12:45:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-21T12:49:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker\"},\"wordCount\":737,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/08\/img-6120f65dc9e3c.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\",\"Pilchard\",\"shocker\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pilchard-research-shocker\",\"name\":\"Pilchard research shocker - 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