Public demands answer on sea animals

As the marine phosphate issue rages on, the fisheries minister is yet to announce his decision on an application by a fishy Chinese company to capture hundreds of Namibian sea animals for Chinese zoos.

Frustration is mounting as the fisheries ministry continues to delay a decision on the matter, despite the fact that the application was filed several months ago.

In early October, a ministry spokesperson confirmed that the application had been reviewed by ministry experts and advisors and their recommendation was put on minister Bernhardt Esau''s desk.

An answer was expected about two weeks ago but to date the minister has remained mum on the issue, a spokesperson confirmed yesterday.

A personal assistant of Esau''s told Namibian Sun that the decision was still pending because the minister had not had a chance to attend to the matter amid the ongoing phosphate mining saga.

“He is quite busy at the moment with a lot of other things, so he hasn''t really attended to it yet,” she said. She added that his office had received the recommendations but claimed the minister had “yet to see the presentation so that he can announce on it”.





Yesterday, Namibia Chamber of Environment CEO Chris Brown said the delay in making public the final decision was not justified, because the decision was “a very simple one.”

“It''s not like the phosphate issue, which is a little more complicated,” he said.

He added that the application by the Chinese company to export marine mammals was an attempted “rip-off” and any consent would be “the wrong thing to do.”

Brown said the application did not merit a yes and similar applications should never be considered again.

He added that once the decision was made the Namibian public needed to be informed.

A marine biologist yesterday pointed out that the issue had gained widespread national and international attention and the ministry had been inundated with letters listing the various issues at play.

An online petition has garnered close to 11 500 signatures and Hollywood celebrities have tweeted their shock at the request.



“So clearly this is not just a silly issue that might go away by itself, it is one of international concern. People want answers and have every right to get those,” the biologist said.

She added that the presence of the Russian whaling ship Ryazanovka in Walvis Bay harbour since mid-May raised questions as to why the decision was taking so long.

Multiple sources have raised concerns about the lack of transparency on the issue.

Scientists, conservationists and the public have forwarded hundreds of letters to the fisheries ministry in recent months, containing a long list of issues identified in the Chinese proposal, including a lack of scientific accuracy and blatant falsehoods, as well as an attempt to damage Namibia''s global reputation as a conservation stronghold.

The Chinese proposal, riddled with scientific inaccuracies, requested to capture endangered species in numbers that exceed the actual population sizes along the Namibian coast.

A letter addressed to the ministry by a reputable international conservation organisation advised the ministry that the Chinese conpany''s claim that capturing the endangered animals would benefit fish resources had been discredited by many independent studies.

Besides the dolphins, whales and other species on the wish list of the Chinese, the conservation organisation points out that the African penguin is listed as endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened species because of its rapid, ongoing population decline.

Any attempt to capture these penguins could potentially wipe out the Namibian population.

The organisation offered technical support in scrutinising any such proposals now and in future.

The fact that the Chinese application is riddled with unscientific and false information appears to be a ploy to boost their “indefensible proposal”, the Namibia Chamber of Environment said last month.

In a letter sent to the fisheries minister last month, the Chamber of Environment pointed out that the issues at stake included conservation, misrepresentation of facts, ethics, reputation damage and local beneficiation.

The chamber said globally it is considered unethical and morally questionable to remove such species from the wild and place them in captivity.

The letter also noted the important role the marine species play, not only in maintaining ecosystems but also in the economy.

“Every effort should be taken to protect and conserve these animals and there should be a totally closed-door policy to any exploitation other than through carefully managed tourism,” the Chamber said.

JANA-MARI SMITH