A decision on the remaining 60 000 tonnes will be made after the completion of a stock survey that will be done in February 2007.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of Information said the Ministry of Fisheries expected to generate around N$3,67 million from quota fees if the full TAC of horse mackerel, deep-sea red crab and rock lobster was caught.

This season, a quota of 2 500 tonnes of deep-sea red crab, 100 tonnes more than the previous season, has been allocated for the fishing season that starts in January and runs until December 2007.

The quota for rock lobster remains at 420 tonnes - the same as last season.

Cabinet said recent scientific surveys and stock assessment models indicated that the horse mackerel stock was lower than it was in 1990, and that there were indications of poor population growth.

"The catch per unit of effort has decreased when compared to the past three years," Cabinet said.

Total Allowable Catches (TACs) are determined by the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, based on scientific studies and recommendations by the Marine Resources Advisory Council.

A sharp reduction in quotas for hake, monkfish and orange roughy - announced in April - left sections of Namibia's struggling fishing industry reeling.

It saw the hake quota slashed by 50 000 tonnes to 130 000 tonnes, and the quota for monkfish cut by 2 000 tonnes to 9 500 tonnes.

The TAC for orange roughy was set at almost half of last year's quota - 1 100 tonnes compared to 2 050 tonnes.

At the time Jose Ruiz, Managing Director of Overberg Fishing at Walvis Bay, described the cut in the hake quota as "catastrophic for the industry".

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