The full pilchard total allowable catch (TAC) was landed in just over a month.

When it was announced, the 20 000 tons lifeline was welcomed with open arms by the industry and unions.

It followed a year of hardships in 2002, when the first ever zero TAC was announced by Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Dr Abraham Iyambo.

Denise van Bergen, Chairperson of the Pelagic Fishing Association of Namibia, said despite the initial relief, the 2003 season was not any better than the previous one.

She blamed the poor season on the small TAC, a 50 per cent drop in industrial fish landings, and a reduced selling price of fish meal because of the stronger Rand.

While there was no pilchard TAC last year, excellent landings of anchovy were made, which provided some income.

This year industrial fish landings have been drastically lower, while fish meal is sold at N$1 600 per ton - less than last year because of the stronger Rand.

"Crew members will probably have earned roughly the same as in the 2002 season," said Van Bergen.

Seasonal workers also suffered as the short period it took to land the full quota left minimal time for cannery workers to earn an income.

There was great relief at the start of the season when two canneries at Walvis Bay started running for the first time in three years, employing almost 1 000 people.

Both the Etosha Fisheries and United Fishing Enterprises canneries were closed last year, while only Etosha was running in 2001 when the TAC was only 10 000 tons.

The seasonal workers at the canneries received no income last year.

The processing of the pilchard TAC was completed by mid-August and both canneries are now closed again until the 2004 season.

Daniel Imbili of the Namibian Fisherman's and Fisheries Industry Union told The Namibian there was not much the workers could do about the short season.

"It all depends on how big the quota is.

We can only pray and hope that it will be bigger next year".

Trying to remain optimistic Imbili said this year's quota did bring some relief for workers.

"We appreciate what happened this year.

Workers were able to pay off some of their debts and monthly instalments on their homes".

He said his union was working hard to try and secure alternative employment for members.

"We do not want the people to end up on the street," he noted.

Cleophas Ngwena of the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau) felt the month's employment was too short.

"The Minister should improve the TAC to give workers longer time to work".

The canneries make use of seasonal workers.

They used to be employed for up to six months in a year when the TAC allocation was much bigger.

On the industrial fish side things are not looking too good either, according to Van Bergen.

The horse mackerel TAC allocated to the Small Pelagic sector has also been landed in full.

This is an industrial fish TAC which is used for the production of fish meal.

The outlook for anchovy, the other source of fish meal, is not very good either, said Van Bergen.

"Sightings so far have been very mixed with juvenile pilchard, which does not bode well for the catches of anchovy this season.

The fishing fleet cannot work on mixed species," she said.

One positive aspect of the pilchard season was the good condition of the fish.

The average length of pilchards was 22,3cm and the average weight 104g.

These statistics compared well with the averages of previous seasons.

The largest fish recorded for the season weighed 153g.

Van Bergen said considerable shoals of fish were still observed after the full TAC had been landed.

Minister Iyambo told a local newspaper earlier that he was not comfortable with an additional quota this season.

He did not rule out the possibility of increasing the quota next year, provided that new survey results confirmed that the pelagic resource was recovering.

The formation of a working group between the industry and the Ministry's Research Institute was a "breakthrough and very positive development", according to Van Bergen.

The group will be chaired by the Director of Resource Management and will consist of five representatives from the industry, including three seagoing officers, and staff members of the Ministry involved in small pelagic stocks.

"We look forward to constructive discussion and practical co-operation in the future to the benefit of all concerned," she said.

The working group will be put to the test in the next research trip planned for October when industry representatives will participate in the gathering of data for future short and long-term planning for the sector.

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