Horse mackerel quota allocation has caused a court battle to claim higher quotas. (Photo Credit: Frederick Hermanus Van der Bank)
Horse mackerel fishing right case postponed
NAMIBIA
Thursday, November 20, 2014, 04:00 (GMT + 9)
The case between several firms holding horse mackerel fishing rights and the minister of fisheries and marine resources has been postponed to February next year by a judge after hearing oral arguments.
The two most important firms suing Minister Bernhard Esau in an attempt to be granted higher horse mackerel quotas are Namsov Fishing Enterprises -- a subsidiary of the publicly traded company Bidvest Namibia -- and Atlantic Harvesters of Namibia, The Namibian informed.
The former demands an increase of 7,400 tonnes and the latter would like to have its quota increased by 1,445 tonnes for 2014 season.
The two companies are claiming that the minister notified their lawyer in July that he had decided to grant them the additional quotas that they had requested and voiced disappointment to find out that their quotas were not as large as they had expected to receive.
Meanwhile, some sources claimed that there were entities that received horse mackerel quotas without holding fishing rights for that marine resource, such as the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor), the Small Pelagic Association, the Namibian Large Pelagic & Hake Longlining Association, and the Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust.
On the other hand, the fisheries minister, who defended his decision by saying the sector needed competition through the introduction of more players, pointed out that only 10,096 tonnes of the reserve quota was still available to be allocated.
Esau also explained that older companies preferred exporting horse mackerel without establishing local distribution networks to create jobs and promote fish consumption in the country.
When the minister was accused of misusing his ministerial powers to benefit certain firms by late September, referring particularly to Fishcor, he claimed had done so in order to save 520 jobs, stating the firm needed as much aid as possible for it to operate at the optimum level.
"As a responsible minister, I would rather act than let a state-owned enterprise under my ministry sink like that," Esau justified.
"I can allocate a quota to whom I want. In this case, 520 jobs were at stake. I will do all I can to save these jobs. The only whip I have are the quotas. I can reduce a quota or add to it depending on how well you are doing like getting a new factory or acquiring a vessel, irrespective of whether you are a Namibian company or not," pointed out the minister at the time.
Related article:
- Minister justifies controversial quota allocation
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