Fishing industry on the line

Hopes of government relief for Namibia's beleaguered fishing industry - struggling to cope with a weak US dollar, high fuel prices and erratic catches - were dashed on Wednesday. Reacting to a recent submission by the industry, urging the cancellation of catch quota levies, a rebate on fuel prices and lower port usage fees, Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister Abraham Iyambo told a meeting of 300 industry captains that the onus was on them to steer the sector out of trouble. "Participants in the fishing industry must find ways to increase income streams to become more competitive, replace ageing fleets to curb operating costs and reduce some top-heavy management structures," Iyambo said. Since the beginning of the year, three fishing companies have closed, two more are under provisional liquidation, and a fish-processing factory at Walvis Bay announced on Monday it was retrenching some of its employees. Fishing is the second largest business sector in Namibia after mining. Iyambo offered a five percent reduction on fish quota levies - a tax on the tonnage of fish paid by license holders - but only for the current season. "Outstanding debts on quota levies, some of which date back to the year 2000, must be paid by 2006, and each company in debt must submit a payment plan to the ministry," Iyambo warned. The industry owes millions in unpaid levies to the government, and had requested the government to waive the debt, as it was causing severe cash-flow problems in the sector. At the first public meeting held on the fishing industry last month, bank manager Werner Thesen asked the Namibian government to intervene with a moratorium on quota levies and usage fees, to allow companies to overcome their cash-flow problems. "Many of our fishing companies no longer qualify for ongoing credit support due to an eroded equity base, at levels that are no longer acceptable to banks," Thesen said. Around 14,000 people are employed by the industry, which contributed about US $472.7 million to the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2003. Over 90 percent of the total catch is sold in Europe, the United States and Asia. "Fish stocks are generally healthy," Iyambo noted. "The problems currently being faced are therefore not primarily due to stock levels, but are economic and operational in nature." He recommended the establishment of a Fisheries Market Council to promote Namibian fish products abroad. At last month's public meeting, Sylvanus Kathindi, chair of the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Organisations - the industry's umbrella body - drew attention to the advantages foreign companies enjoyed in the sector. "Too many concessionaries holding fish quotas fragment the industry, and the playing field between bona fide Namibian companies and foreigners who own Namibian companies, is not level," he said in a presentation. The minister was scathing over the lack of progress on the Namibianisation of the industry. "The Namibian fish resources are a national asset, and Namibians should not be treated as a footnote." He insisted that a target of 50 percent Namibian crew on trawlers fishing horse mackerel must be met by January 2007. "Each and every horse mackerel rights-holder must submit a plan by August 2005, detailing how, exactly, they will increase Namibianisation on their vessels, which is terribly low at the moment." Iyambo also stressed the need for black economic empowerment at management level in the industry. He urged that more black Namibian managers should fill posts in fishing companies, especially in joint ventures with foreign investors. "The announcements were a mixed bag," said Angel Tordesillas of PescaNova, a large Spanish investor in Namibia and South Africa. "Those who belong in this industry will survive these difficult times," he told IRIN. "Government can only do so much; the fishing industry must remedy itself."