Fisheries will put funds to good use

Fisheries and marine resources minister Derek Klazen has promised that funds allocated to the ministry will be put to good use, adding that the ministry has received unqualified audit reports for both the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years.Klazen said this when he tabled the ministry’s annual budget of N$175.5 million for the 2022/2023 financial year in parliament.According to Klazen the majority of N$163.5 million will be directed towards personnel expenditure under the operational budget while the remainder will be allocated to the development budget. He said Namibia’s ocean is faced with many challenges which includes illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities, the negative impact of climate change where an increase in sea surface temperature is resulting in decreasing dissolved oxygen levels and the frequent occurrence of harmful algal blooms that threaten marine life.“Therefore, despite the reduced allocation, the ministry embraces the idea of doing the necessary with less and ensure that our mandate is executed.”ResearchKlazen said that N$36 692 will be allocated to the Survey and Stock Assessment Programme which conducts research in order to determine the level of biomass of commercially exploitable marine resources and provide scientific advice on the sustainable harvest levels and other relevant management measures.He said that during the 2021/2022 financial year the ministry conducted biomass surveys for all key commercially exploited fish stocks being hake, monk, horse mackerel, orange roughy, crab and sardine (pilchard) as well as on the state of the marine environment. Data collected from the commercial fisheries enabled stock assessment and determination of Total Allowable Catch (TAC).“The TAC as a tool is informed by biomass data stock assessment and that ensures that fisheries are managed in a sustainable manner. The proof of which can be found in that Namibia has received certification from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) owing to this fact.” According to Klazen Namibia is one of only two countries in Africa that has received MSC partial certification for hake. “This data collection and stock assessments are required for maintaining a full MSC certification for hake to allow Namibian products into lucrative markets.”Under the Human Resources Development Programme N$29.8 million has been allocated. MonitoringMeanwhile an amount of N$58.4 million is allocated to the Marine and Inland Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Programme which ensures that that the living aquatic resources are protected.“Under this programme, our law enforcement officers, the fisheries inspectors, carry out activities such as; air, sea and river patrols, to monitor whether fishing activities are carried out within the ambit of our laws,” said Klazen. An amount of N$36.7 has been allocated to Promotion of Aquaculture and Inland Fisheries Programme which aims to promote the responsible and sustainable development of aquaculture sector to achieve social economic benefits for the Namibians living alongside inland water bodies.Under this programme, 8 research fish farms are currently operational providing advisory services to farmers and producing fingerlings and full-sized fish for distribution.Fingerlings production during the 2021/2022 financial year resulted in a distribution of 640 000 to 87 small scale fish farmers and government fish farms. According to Klazen the outreach programme resulted in the training of 96 fish farmers and students, while a total of 33.5 tonnes of fish with a value N$2 million was produced from freshwater aquaculture. He said that the mariculture industry produced 149.5 tonnes of oysters with a value of N$11.3 million despite the difficult financial circumstances.The Policy and Economic Advice Programme was allocated N$11.1 million with to advice the ministry on the impact of fisheries policies, and report on socio-economic performance of the sector.Additionally, this programme is responsible for the management of fishing rights, analysis of socio-economic impact of gazetted Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and the allocation of fishing quotas. The Coordination and Support Services Programme was allocated an amount of N$2.63 million of which the main purpose is to provide ICT support services to the ministry.

Fisheries will put funds to good use

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-22

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Fisheries will put funds to good use

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-22

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