Esau in troubled water

A group of 44 environmental organisations has expressed alarm and denounced a decision by fisheries minister Bernhard Esau to issue a 14 000-ton pilchard quota despite scientific evidence that the fish is close to extinct in Namibian waters.

In a statement issued this week by the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE), an umbrella NGO with a current membership of 44 environmental groups, the organisation sharply criticised the minister for his recent comments that he had taken “a gamble” when he decided on the quota.

“The pilchard (sardine) is one of Namibia's most threatened species. It has declined to perhaps less than 1% of its former biomass,” the NCE wrote.

The NCE members joined numerous marine scientists who have called on the ministry to urgently stop pilchard fishing until stocks have recovered to sustainable levels.

The NCE said recent reports in which the minister admitted he had ignored advice from his own fisheries scientists were “most disturbing at many levels.”

“Instead the minister suggested that sardines simply may have moved to deeper waters. This appears to be a personal view which is seemingly not backed by any solid data.

“Minister Esau is gambling with the ecological stability, biodiversity, productivity and economy of Namibia's marine ecosystem,” the organisation said.

It said his decision could affect the long-term future of the country's marine ecosystem.

The minister's comment that he had acted on the advice of members of the Marine Resources Advisory Council (MRAC) was also questioned by NCE.

“Only one practising fisheries scientist serves on the council, essentially biasing decisions in favour of the fishing industry,” it said.

The NCE added that the alleged advice from the MRAC was unclear, “as so many aspects of marine fisheries lack transparency”.

Namibian Sun was informed by anonymous sources that during the annual surveys conducted over the past three years, scientists found so few pilchards that they could not make a biomass estimate.

It was reported that the last survey, the 2016/17 survey, was abruptly cancelled and never completed.

At his annual staff address in Swakopmund recently, Esau admitted that the pilchard situation “has been under severe pressure” but added that the ministry had “tried to do stock recovery, and we've done that. There are pilchards in the sea for sure.”

According to the official statistics however, the industry was only able to catch 4 000 tons of pilchard last year against a quota of 14 000 tons.

The minister claimed that climate change had forced pilchards to move into deeper waters, and that the industry was only permitted to “take a sustainable amount of fish”.

The NCE explained, however, that scientists had already called for a moratorium on pilchard fishing in the early 1980s, in order to allow declining fish stocks to recover. Those calls were also ignored.

The NCE quoted a number of studies that have highlighted the degradation of the Namibian marine ecosystem.

The NCE said given the current state of the pilchard sector, a moratorium of several years could be achieved at minimal cost.

“Pilchards would be one of the most important fisheries once it can recover. It is a vital part of the marine food chain with many important fish species feeding on it and should be the basis of a large and vibrant fishing industry with good employment,” the NCE said.

The organisation also proposed that scientific research on stock size and related ecosystem aspects be intensified.

It suggested an agreement with Angola on the sustainable management of shared pilchard stocks through a joint management plan.

These efforts should be complemented by the establishment of marine protected areas to protect spawning and nursery areas.

Questions sent to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources were not responded to at the time of going to print.

JANA-MARI SMITH, LEANDREA LOUW & OTIS FINCK