Fishing permit fees are improper
ANDREAS VAATZ WRITES:
In respect of the surprise announcement by the Ministry of imposing a fishing license to private people of N$1500,00 per month, I would like to say the following:
The fish in the sea does not belong to the Government. As far as I am concerned, the fish and other fruits of the sea are common property, they belong as much to each one of us as to the Government so there is no basis for claiming money when we make an effort to catch the one or other fish of which we are a co-owner anyway.
Fish that lives in a dam, built by the Government, is something different. There the Government spent the money to build the dam and inserted the fish, so there is some justification in claiming that someone who wants to catch those fish must pay a license fee or other fee for doing so.
In my submission, all citizens of Namibia are entitled to do certain things without having to pay anything to the Government, even when the Government is in a desperate financial situation such as now.
Thus, we should be allowed to breathe the air freely, we should be allowed to swim in the sea freely, we should be allowed to walk along the beach freely, we should be allowed to walk or drive in the dunes or on property that has not been allocated to anyone.
A license is a document, which a person gets to prove that he has fulfilled certain requirements. Thus, when you get a driver's license that proves that you have passed the driver's exams. If your car gets a license, it means that it is roadworthy and you are entitled with that car to use the roads of Namibia. If you get a liquor license, that means you have fulfilled the requirements for opening a bottle store or restaurant or a shebeen or whatever. The license is proof that you have fulfilled a certain prescribed minimum requirement. That is how licenses are used in Namibia.
Going fishing does not require any proof that you have obtained certain skills or fulfilled certain prescribed requirements for being authorised to do a specific type of thing, such as selling liquor or running a taxi. Thus, in my view, there is no basis on which the Government can actually claim a “fishing license”.
The Government is not the owner of the fish, it is not the owner of the shores, it is merely there to regulate that we, the people of Namibia, do not abuse our rights and that means that it is entitled to prescribe maximum quantities of fish, lobster or mussels that may be caught.
In that respect, in my submission, the Government is acting correctly according to its overall duty to exercise a regulating function in our society, be that now for regulating the quantity of fish or regulating the traffic in the cities or regulating the minimum requirements one must fulfill to do certain jobs where other people may be effected by your conduct or the manner in which you do the job, for example licenses to own and drive a taxi.
For our motor vehicles we pay an annual license fee of perhaps N$600,00 – N$700,00. Having paid that, we are entitled to use that vehicle and drive on any road built by the Government in the entire Namibia. We are entitled to use those roads 24 hours per day.
Measured against that permission granted to us by virtue of our motor vehicle license, to charge a license fee of N$1 500,00 per month merely to throw a fishing line into the sea, which belongs to all of us anyway, and to try and catch a fish is by any standard exorbitant. On that basis, I submit, that the license fee now announced is improper and should be reversed.
If, as the Minister claims, it costs so much to monitor the fishing activities of private people in Namibia, then the short answer is simply drop monitoring the fishing. No one will be harmed, all the Government has to do from time to time is to check that the people do not abuse their rights and harvest more fruits of the sea than needed for their personal use.
For that however you don't need a team of inspectors or a supervising system that costs more than N$500 000 per month. I accordingly call upon the Ministry to reconsider its exorbitant charges.
In respect of the surprise announcement by the Ministry of imposing a fishing license to private people of N$1500,00 per month, I would like to say the following:
The fish in the sea does not belong to the Government. As far as I am concerned, the fish and other fruits of the sea are common property, they belong as much to each one of us as to the Government so there is no basis for claiming money when we make an effort to catch the one or other fish of which we are a co-owner anyway.
Fish that lives in a dam, built by the Government, is something different. There the Government spent the money to build the dam and inserted the fish, so there is some justification in claiming that someone who wants to catch those fish must pay a license fee or other fee for doing so.
In my submission, all citizens of Namibia are entitled to do certain things without having to pay anything to the Government, even when the Government is in a desperate financial situation such as now.
Thus, we should be allowed to breathe the air freely, we should be allowed to swim in the sea freely, we should be allowed to walk along the beach freely, we should be allowed to walk or drive in the dunes or on property that has not been allocated to anyone.
A license is a document, which a person gets to prove that he has fulfilled certain requirements. Thus, when you get a driver's license that proves that you have passed the driver's exams. If your car gets a license, it means that it is roadworthy and you are entitled with that car to use the roads of Namibia. If you get a liquor license, that means you have fulfilled the requirements for opening a bottle store or restaurant or a shebeen or whatever. The license is proof that you have fulfilled a certain prescribed minimum requirement. That is how licenses are used in Namibia.
Going fishing does not require any proof that you have obtained certain skills or fulfilled certain prescribed requirements for being authorised to do a specific type of thing, such as selling liquor or running a taxi. Thus, in my view, there is no basis on which the Government can actually claim a “fishing license”.
The Government is not the owner of the fish, it is not the owner of the shores, it is merely there to regulate that we, the people of Namibia, do not abuse our rights and that means that it is entitled to prescribe maximum quantities of fish, lobster or mussels that may be caught.
In that respect, in my submission, the Government is acting correctly according to its overall duty to exercise a regulating function in our society, be that now for regulating the quantity of fish or regulating the traffic in the cities or regulating the minimum requirements one must fulfill to do certain jobs where other people may be effected by your conduct or the manner in which you do the job, for example licenses to own and drive a taxi.
For our motor vehicles we pay an annual license fee of perhaps N$600,00 – N$700,00. Having paid that, we are entitled to use that vehicle and drive on any road built by the Government in the entire Namibia. We are entitled to use those roads 24 hours per day.
Measured against that permission granted to us by virtue of our motor vehicle license, to charge a license fee of N$1 500,00 per month merely to throw a fishing line into the sea, which belongs to all of us anyway, and to try and catch a fish is by any standard exorbitant. On that basis, I submit, that the license fee now announced is improper and should be reversed.
If, as the Minister claims, it costs so much to monitor the fishing activities of private people in Namibia, then the short answer is simply drop monitoring the fishing. No one will be harmed, all the Government has to do from time to time is to check that the people do not abuse their rights and harvest more fruits of the sea than needed for their personal use.
For that however you don't need a team of inspectors or a supervising system that costs more than N$500 000 per month. I accordingly call upon the Ministry to reconsider its exorbitant charges.
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