Fisheries minister Bernhard Esau yesterday said about 5 200 applications for fishing rights were received from all parts of the country.
Esau revealed this at a media briefing yesterday in Windhoek. The application period for fishing rights started in May this year, and ended on 31 August.
The government allocates quotas to harvest marine resources to successful entities which have fishing rights.
Esau said the names of all 5 200 applicants will be published on the ministry’s website within two weeks, “broken down by species applied for”.
He added that the process to select the successful applicants will be transparent and as per criteria published in the Government Gazette.
“Every application will be treated fairly, and declarations in the forms will be verified. As stated earlier, the policy objective in this matter is to give meaning to the government policy of inclusivity, and particularly the empowerment of previously disadvantaged Namibians, while ensuring that we protect Namibian jobs and investments in our marine fisheries sub-sector,” he said. He, however, maintained that not all applicants will be issued with fishing rights because of “our limited fisheries resources”.
“If we were to issue every applicant with a fishing right, it would make the fisheries sector uneconomical and a free-for-all, which would lead to an unsustainable scramble for this natural resource, leading to its collapse,” he stated.
Successful applicants will be notified by the end of 2018, Esau added.
