Justicia Shipena
The ministry of agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform (MAFWLR) says auctioning the precautionary pilchard quota would have taken too long and put Namibian jobs at risk, defending its choice to award Eco Fish Farms (Pty) Ltd the right to harvest 10 000 metric tonnes.
The decision follows backlash over the quota, valued at about N$180 million, which was awarded to a company led by fishing businessman Ivo de Gouveia.
Reports in The Namibian cited claims that the allocation contradicted a cabinet directive to create jobs, with fisheries executive director Theo Nghitila accused of favouring a middleman operator.
De Gouveia, who previously co-owned a fishing company with the ruling party, Swapo, secured the quota through Eco Fish Farms.
The allocation is estimated to be worth between N$160 million and N$200 million, based on a market value of N$20 per kilogram.
The Wet Landed Small Pelagic Association objected to the move. In a letter to the cabinet dated 18 August, its chairperson Johnny Doeseb said the allocation contravened cabinet directives.
On Wednesday, the ministry said the quota was issued under the Marine Resources Act as a Governmental Objectives Quota, running until December 2025.
It explained that the pilchards will be processed into cans to support food security programmes, including school meals, food aid, and relief to communities affected by droughts and floods.
“The best-informed decision was to allow precautionary harvesting of pilchard to only one company that would meet the prerequisites to harvest and process into cans in the shortest possible time span,” the ministry stated.
The ministry noted that all pilchard fishing rights expired between 2019 and 2020, leaving only Etosha Fishing Corporation with a mechanically functional and Namibian Standards Institution-approved cannery.
The ministry said the decision helps safeguard jobs at the Etosha cannery, ensures revenue collection through quota fees and levies, and contributes to food security.
It dismissed claims of favouritism, noting that Eco Fish Farms is fully Namibian-owned and linked to the cannery, while Etosha Fishing Corporation is 44.8% owned by South Africa’s Oceana Group Limited.
In July, the cabinet approved a total allowable catch (TAC) of 10,000 metric tonnes of pilchards for governmental objectives for the remainder of the 2025 fishing season, ending in September. The approval followed the landing of N$23 million worth of pilchards as bycatch in the horse mackerel sector a month earlier, which renewed calls from the small pelagic sector for the government to allocate a quota to rescue struggling companies.
Pilchards have been under a moratorium since 2015 to allow stocks to recover, and the ban will remain in place for at least three more years.
The Small Pelagic Industry Association recently raised concerns over footage showing trawlers sorting large quantities of pilchards, accusing horse mackerel vessels of targeting the fish while claiming accidental bycatch.
The Marine Resources Act allows only 5% of a catch to consist of species outside a vessel’s quota.
In 2023, pilchard bycatch had a landed value of N$428 million, but only N$64 million was paid to the State in penalties.
In May this year , fisheries minister Inge Zaamwani told Parliament that the pilchard population is recovering, with estimates putting the biomass at 850,000 metric tonnes.
