Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister Derek Klazen said his ministry is faced with disputes regarding shareholders’ requests to un-couple companies from grouped right holding joint ventures due to low catches of Horse Mackerel species generally.

Klazen said this during the official opening of a retreat on Selected Policy and Strategic Matters here on Wednesday.

He said at the centre of these reports is the fact that the fishing industry wishes to be allowed to trawl within the 200 isobars on the premise that given the cold temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean, the fish migrated and is to be found within the 200m isobar.

“This meant that just like by a magic wand, the catches will be plentiful if the ministry was to approve trawling within the 200m isobars.

“Conversely, there are those who argue that the migration of fish to a relatively warmer area within the 200m isobar is a fact but argue further that the fisheries migration involves only juvenile fish and therefore allowing trawling within the 200m isobars will result in the depletion of the resource when the harvesting of juvenile fish is allowed,” the minister cautioned.

He however noted that although his position on this matter among others is neither here nor there, it is imperative to take a decision on them after taking an honest and insightful look and balancing the interests of the industry with but not at the expense of sustainability nor against the natural order currently in place within the industry.

Klazen, therefore, hoped that the retreat will review the legal architecture and policy and practice landscapes with the view to consolidating useful policy and legal provisions assisting the achievements of the mandate of the Ministry.

“Furthermore, the practices, policies and legal provisions found not to be assisting in the attainment of ministerial objectives to serving the public better, will be abandoned and replaced with more workable provisions,” he added.

The retreat, whose objective is to help improve fisheries policies towards sustainable resource management and fisheries business operations, is the first of a series of other idea-exchanging forums planned for the foreseeable future.

The three-day meeting will end on Friday.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency