1634 FISH QUOTA: Malfeasance and failure in the fisheries
Written by David Pieters (Tender Bulletin)
24 April 2026 – The Namibian authorities have floated their second auction of fishing quotas in less than a month after unionised factory workers successfully protested against an earlier auction in March under the controversial ‘government objectives’ programme, resulting in its cancellation – the first such stoppage. Alongside the announcement of its second auction, the government said it has allowed horse mackerel wetfish trawlers temporary access to spawning grounds in shallower waters within the prohibited 200-metre isobath zone – against its own marine conservation policy.
The cancelled auction for 6,232 tons of hake and 22,404 tons of horse mackerel that was supposed to close on 2 April, was cancelled by the finance ministry on 27 March after fishing industry workers petitioned against the government’s objectives quota auction system altogether because it threatened jobs.
The new auction announced this week – for much smaller quotas of 1,719 tons of hake and 11,037 tons of horse mackerel – closes 22 May (New Era, 27-Apr-26). At the same time, the relaxed limits in fishing zones announced last week, giving wetfish trawlers access to breeding grounds in shallower waters for one year, have triggered concerns over the sustainability of fish stocks. It was announced that the trawling zone has been extended from the 200 metre water depth limit to 150 metre deep waters – closer to the shoreline, from 1 May until 30-Apr-27.
The wetfish (wet-landed) sector this year received 78,800 tons of the 197,000 tons TAC for horse mackerel, with 10,519 tons reserved for government objective quotas. Feeding where the fish breed. Gendev Fishing and Princess Brands are the only companies to conduct wet-landed horse mackerel landings with four trawlers for further processing in Walvis Bay factories employing 1,300. Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations Matti Amukwa said over 90 vessels could be excluded from these extended fishing grounds, now open to a very small group of vessels allowed to trawl in shallower waters.
The move also contradicts repeated warnings from government scientists because the waters inshore of the 200m isobath are a recognized breeding and nursery area for juvenile fish and threaten long-term sustainability of the fisheries for short-term gain (The Namibian, 27-Apr-26). Alongside the relaxation of the 200-metre isobath zone to 150 metres, the cabinet also approved the creation of a dedicated fishing zone for the subsector in mid-April. According to this decision announced last Friday, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water & Land Reform will designate an area south of latitude 22°S, beyond the 200-metre depth line, for exclusive use by wet-landed horse mackerel operators.
The government also confirmed winding down the Government Employment Redress Programme by April next year, following implementation challenges and audit findings, in terms of which GERP workers will be absorbed into fishing companies, with quotas incorporated into commercial allocations as part of a phased transition away from the programme (Namibian Sun, 28-Apr-26).
The Government Employment Redress Programme (GERP) was established to re-employ over 2,400 fishermen who lost their jobs due to the 2015 strike and the Fishrot scandal, with over 2,500 beneficiaries reported by 2026. It links fishing quotas (hake/horse mackerel) to re-employment, but faces criticism for poor oversight, low wages, and temporary contracts. Quotas were allocated to fishing companies on condition that they rehired retrenched workers. Approximately 1,933 workers were rehired in the hake sector and 550 in the horse mackerel sector.
“Cabinet further approved that the above recommendations be implemented from the new fishing seasons, for hake to be effective from 1 November 2026 and for horse mackerel effective from January 2027”, according to the official statement, justifying this as a change towards integrating employment and quota systems in the commercial fisheries. The 200m isobath rule has been used as a conservation measure to protect juvenile fish, pilchards, and sensitive marine ecosystems closer to shore. Fishing inside this zone, declared in 1990, has generally been restricted, with limited exceptions granted under specific conditions. The decision comes at a time when the horse mackerel sector is facing pressure linked to reduced quotas and uncertainty over allocations.
Earlier this year, the fisheries ministry set the 2026 total allowable catch (TAC) for horse mackerel at 197,000 tonnes, a reduction from 208,000 tonnes in 2025. Of this, about 35%, nearly 70 000 tonnes, was reserved for government objectives, including food security programmes, infrastructure, and employment support. The reduction followed scientific assessments indicating a decline in fish stocks, prompting a more cautious management approach to protect the resource (The Namibian, The Brief, 24-May-26).
The ruling party connection
This year’s relaxation of the 200-metre isobath zone is not the first. It was reported in November last year that Dutch-owned Princes Brand works staged a protest in Walvis Bay after the expiry of the so-called experimental horse mackerel wetfish quotas inshore of the forbidden zone allocated to the company, and Gendev had expired. The protesting workers want the government to intervene (New Era 13-Nov-25). Gendev Fishing is 97% owned by Guinas Investments, part of Swapo’s commercial empire. In March, Gendev Fishing allegedly sent its factory workers in Walvis Bay home, unable to pay their wages for the month.
Shop steward Chris Shishoona told The Namibian: “We were told by Gendev management that we must leave the premises from 23 March, and take all our belongings and stay home until further notice,” he said.
“We are now sitting at home without our March salary. The acting managing director told us she does not know when we will get our salary. At this point there is no money.”
According to him, the directive affected permanent employees and supervisors, with no formal letters issued to workers, of whom 80 to 90 employees were affected. The development comes after the company’s acting managing director, Ruby Rees, in January announced it was considering retrenching 489 employees due to operational challenges, which was put on hold following consultations with the Ministry of Justice & Labour Relations, during which Gendev cited limited fishing quotas as a key challenge. The company received about 3,330 tonnes of horse mackerel for 2026, which the workers say is insufficient to sustain operations. The company had requested permission to fish within the 200m isobath restricted zone, but this was not approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform [until now] (The Namibian, 28 March 2026).
Restricted fishing zone to be gazetted
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water & Land Reform, Inge Zaamwani, announced this week that the prohibition of trawling inside the 200-metre isobath zone will be formally gazetted by September (The Namibian, 28-Apr-26). The Windhoek Observer reported two months ago that the ministry had confirmed that the official coordinates of Namibia’s 200-metre isobath restricted fishing zone have never been formally gazetted, casting doubt on its enforcement. While fishing companies continue to apply for access to the restricted zone, an ongoing scientific survey launched in 2023 to assess fish migration patterns between the 200-metre isobath zone and further offshore, has been extended after initially concluding last year. The final report covering the initial 2023 to 2025 study has not been released.
Union president Paulus Hango accused the Gendev of trying to intimidate the government, pointing out that it had been granted a quota to fish inside the restricted zone in 2025. The newspaper was told by legal sources that unclear geographic boundaries can be challenged in court.
“Should an operator challenge a punishment for fishing inside the 200-metre isobath, the ministry would need to demonstrate that the restriction is legally enforceable despite the absence of gazetted co-ordinates.”
Sources said the ministry now faces two unresolved issues. It must decide on industry applications while the scientific report remains unpublished. It must also determine how to enforce a restriction that lacks formal gazettal. The ministry said in response that it was currently consulting on these regulations, which would be formalized (Windhoek Observer’s Facebook page).
The cancelled fish quota auction
The notice of cancellation of the fishing quota auction scheduled to close on 2 April was published in Tender Bulletin 1629 and followed protests by workers from different fishing companies directed at the so-called government objective programme, in which the proceeds are used for general operational expenditure and not ploughed back into the underfunded fisheries sector. In their petition handed to Erongo regional governor Natalia /Goagoses in March, workers complained that these quota auctions add to job insecurity and prevent seasonal workers from obtaining permanent positions.
They want the fishing quotas to be allocated directly to companies with vessels and established workforces. According to Tunacor shop steward, Anna Elago, these auctions favour the highest bidders – often at the expense of local companies that employ thousands of Namibians. Without a guaranteed quota, employers are hesitant to commit to permanent employment contracts. As a result, workers who should be permanently employed are kept on fixed-term contracts for up to eight years, because companies cannot guarantee work without a predictable quota, she argued.
Gendev Fishing workers complained about worsening working conditions. “Since last year, we’ve been at home for long periods for which the company pays us for 4.5 hours,” shop steward Aina Nampweya said. The company’s acting MD announced plans on 22-Jan-26 to retrench 489 employees due to operational challenges tied to limited quotas and operational uncertainty.
Another worker representative, Moses Nakatana, also said the auctioning of fish quotas was contributing to the deteriorating conditions of workers in the fishing industry. Some companies were now forced to buy fish on public auction to sustain employment. “The original idea to auction off the quota was for the government to help the community during drought,” he said. But now the ministries of finance and fisheries had come up with something completely different, “which is not regulated in any law”, he claimed.
In his opinion, the auctioning of quotas places the government in direct competition with the industry it is meant to regulate and support. Non-Namibian-flagged vessels were allowed to participate in the auctions, often undermining rights holders and existing operators (The Namibian 31-Mar-26; New Era 01-Apr-26; Namibian Sun 02-Apr-26).
No details on previous auctions
The cancelled auction was this year’s first, staged as usual jointly by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water & Land Reform, as part of the sale of fishing quotas to the highest bidder under the ‘governmental objective’ system. These auctions are held in terms of the Marine Resources Act 27 of 2000, which makes provision for the State to utilize or harvest marine resources to advance any socio-economic, cultural, or other “governmental objective in the public interest”. Their purpose is to raise revenue for government expenditure, according to the prospectus for the only auction last year of 1,000MT of monk freezer fish, which closed on 18 July 2025.
The fishing quotas awarded under these auctions are tradable on the secondary market, according to that prospectus. Bidders had to indicate whether they were Namibian-registered or international operators. The prospectus also stipulated that the quota allocation to the highest bidder is subject to the usual levies and quota fees. The quota fees are payable to the Fisheries Observer Agency at a current rate of 0.9% on all catches. Successful bidders must also comply with the provisions of the Income Tax Act and VAT Act. The MAFWLR will designate the successful bidders to catch the awarded quota over the harvesting period within the designated fishing season, with no refund on uncaught fish and no carry-over to the next fishing season. Bidders therefore have to buy a quota considering the time left before the end of the fishing season and their capacity to land the tonnage.
The prospectuses of earlier auctions can no longer be accessed on the finance ministry’s website, which also does not disclose the outcomes of those auctions. In 2024, there were three auctions for 1,000MT monk, 13,584MT horse mackerel and another 26,384MT horse mackerel. In 2023, the two ministries staged three auctions for 5,000MT hake, 6,000MT monk and 30,540MT horse mackerel, while in 2022 there was one auction for 15,000MT hake.
Failed fisheries governance
As the Tender Bulletin wrote in its review of the 2025/26 development budget, the millions raised through these auctions are not invested in the fisheries sector, but are used to prop up operational expenditure throughout the rest of government, euphemstically labled ‘government objectives’. In these auctions, the identities of the successful bidders are no longer publicly disclosed, as had been the case in earlier auctions. Even the Fisheries Observer Agency has asked for its own fishing quota with which to finance its operational shortfalls as a result of inadequate budgeting by the ministry.
It was reported in November 2024 that, in addition to crippling personnel shortages, the former Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources was severely hampered by outdated equipment, broken-down vehicles, research vessels that are not sea-going, only one operational monitoring aircraft, and an ineffective Vessel Monitoring System that can be bypassed by trawlers engaged in illegal fishing. These were the findings of a report by the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture, environment, and natural resources.
According to UNAM economics professor, Roman Grynberg, the politically connected obtain fishing (or mineral) licences below their market value (or for free) and sell these for massive profits without paying capital gains tax – a disincentive to productive participants in the sector. It had been calculated that the government gave away N$18 billion to the connected few, 21 members of parliament and the fishing companies that obtained horse mackerel quotas over ten years – excluding fishing quotas for more valuable species such as hake (The Namibian, 20-Dec-24, 05-Jun-25).
According to Grynberg, it was admitted in 2018 that fishing quotas had been allocated to the Central Intelligence Service since 2010, estimated in 2019 to be worth N$18 million. To appease public dissatisfaction with the quota free-for-all amongst the elite, MAFWRD minister, Inge Zaamwani, announced in parliament last year that NGO’s, community groups, and people with disabilities would in the future be favoured in the distribution of fishing quotas to ensure that the marine resources benefit more than “big business” (New Era, 24-Sep-25).
But this merely broadens the scope of quota speculation by those who are not direct participants in the fishing sector and does not address the corruption of handing quotas on a platter to the politically connected. Grynberg said – in contradiction to the policy of dishing out free quotas – when fishing quota auctions were introduced a few years ago and prices fetched were still published (which is no longer the case), it became clear what Namibia had been losing to the political elite who acquired their quotas at no cost, turning into instant millionaires by selling them to those who actually caught and processed fish.
According to a report in 2023, it was estimated that if all the horse mackerel quotas were auctioned to the highest bidder, Namibia would have been N$18 billion richer over ten years. And this excludes quotas for hake, tuna, and other species. Namibia’s industrial fisheries, which earn at least N$10 billion in export earnings, employ around 16,000 workers dependent on the sector’s good governance. But the government determines total allowable catches (TACs) annually in collaboration with private sector industry players and unions – often ignoring recommendations by scientists and marine biologists who scientifically assess fish stocks and sustainable levels of harvesting.
These scientific recommendations are not published annually, nor does the fisheries ministry make public its reasoning behind determining TACs. (Bulletin 1625, ‘Rotting from the head’ in Procurement guide to Namibia’s 2025/26 development budget, Part 11B – Environment, Water & Fisheries Projects.)
Who’s to blame?
Opening a three-day consultation with fishing companies, unions, and associations on 21 April, Namibian president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah acknowledged there was pressure on the sector’s sustainability and that a review of harvesting controls had begun. A 2024 survey had revealed an 8% decline in the horse mackerel biomass, while the industry had to import hake worth N$140 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 to factory processing lines going, attributed to the decline in the TAC for that species.
Industry speakers at the meeting blamed poor governance and a lack of transparency in quota allocations for the deepening crisis (The Namibian, 23-Apr-26). The president said the government has moved to confront these mounting challenges and acknowledged the need for urgent policy and operational reforms. One statement by the president at the Walvis Bay meeting was revealing: “We are not here to play a blame game. We have come to listen with an open mind” (The Brief, 22-Apr-26).
This rather condescending remark signals the government’s aloofness towards a crisis largely of its own making in which a once-thriving fishery has been devastated through poor governance, secrecy, and corruption on an industrial scale.
Urgent reforms needed
In a briefing paper in Nov-22, the Institute of Public Policy Research laid much of the blame on the way in which the Marine Resources Act of 2000 was formulated, granting the minister unchecked powers over the industry.
“Even before the Fishrot revelations in 2019, it was clear that fishing rights and quotas were often allocated in an arbitrary fashion and in a way that seemed to encourage rights holders to sell on their rights rather than exploit them directly. Factors such as investment, value addition, and employment were not applied consistently, with decisions being made according to personal choice by the Minister, obviously opening the way to favouritism and corruption.
“At the same time, serious players in the industry became disincentivised, and investment went down as a result of this capricious handling of national assets.
“It is also clear that the level of secrecy within the Ministry of Fisheries may have facilitated other corrupt practices and schemes which have yet to be fully revealed.”
The IPPR called for several short-term reforms in the administration of the fisheries:
* the government must publish lists of all rights holders, quota recipients, and licence holders, inclusive of beneficial ownership details;
* publish details of TACs and summaries of the scientific advice on which they are based;
* The government should follow through on commitments made in aligning laws and practices with the standards of EITI on transparency, which means moving towards open contracting and introducing beneficial
ownership registers;
* introduce amendments to the Marine Resources Act that remove the discretionary powers granted and institutionalise transparency and accountability;
* The government must immediately address the institutional weaknesses in fisheries management.
* The government must join the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) and adhere to its standards and requirements;
* The government should implement the Access to Information Act immediately, with funding to set up the necessary structures and staffing;
* The government should implement the Whistleblower Protection Act and the Witness Protection Act, with funding to set up the necessary structures and staffing complements;
* The private sector should commit to supporting reforms, including transparency pledges, in the fishing industry rather than seeking to get what short-term gains they can from a dysfunctional system;
* Measures to strengthen civil society and the media to hold the fisheries industry to account (Institute for Public Policy Research Briefing Paper, ‘After Fishrot: The Urgent Need for Transparency and Accountability’, Nov-22).
These calls, made in 2022, have had no effect on Namibia’s governing party, which continues to treat the fishing industry as a cash cow and obviously fears the repercussions should such reforms be implemented.
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