Northern fish farmers harvest 2 000 tonnes

Fish farmers in the North last year harvested around 2 000 tonnes of fish valued at N$120 million from wild fisheries landing from the region’s rivers.Tabling the N$191.4-million budget of the ministry of fisheries and marine resource in parliament this week, minister Derek Klazen said a large sector of people in Namibia’s rural areas engage in subsistence inland fisheries activities, whose sustainable commercialisation is continuously assessed to safeguard the resource base for those who are dependent on it.He said his ministry has gazetted an additional five fish-protected areas or fisheries reserves in the Kwando/Chobe system for sustainable management directly by the communities themselves to prevent external unsustainable exploitation.Klazen said the ministry oversees at least eight aquaculture and inland fisheries farms which produce fingerlings and or market-size fish for distribution across the country.Those farms, he said, produced 36 tonnes of fish from freshwater aquaculture with a value of N$1.8 million, while the industry produced 149 tonnes of oysters with a total value of N$11.36 million.BIOMASS SURVEYKlazen further informed the House that a biomass survey will be conducted to assess and decide whether the stock, especially commercially important stocks such as hake, monk, horse mackerel, pilchard, deep-sea red crab, rock lobster and seals have recovered adequately to resume commercial exploitation.“The three-year moratorium on sardines (pilchard) has lapsed and a biomass survey is planned for 2021 to establish the status of this important stock and advise on the way forward. As such, the ministry plans to use its two research vessels to conduct these surveys and funds need to be availed for the running, maintenance and repairs, as well as for other operational costs associated with the operations of these vessels,” he said.Additionally hake fishery, he said, has been conditionally certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable, a status that is expected to lead to access to lucrative markets. However, to attain full certification, the ministry is required to improve its understanding of the marine ecosystem and to do so, increased research on ecosystem aspects needs to be done. - Nampa

Northern fish farmers harvest 2 000 tonnes

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