Fish factories kick up a stink

RESIDENTS at Namibia’s premier harbour town are up in arms over noxious smells emanating from the port’s fish meal factories.

While many have lived with the odours, once referred to as the “smell of money”, for more than 40 years, they have now reached the end of their tether. A petition, signed by more than 100 people, was handed to the Municipality last week, demanding that the “cause of the nuisance be removed” and to serve notice on the “authors of the nuisance” in terms of the Public Health Act.The petition refers to a section of the Act [point (f) in Section 128 of Act 36 of 1919] which states: “Any factory or trade premises causing or giving rise to smells or effluvia which are offensive or which are injurious or dangerous to health, and the authors being fish meal plants” as motivation for their demand.The petition warns: “Please note that in terms of Section 128 (3) of the said Act, the Local Authority can be ordered to pay any expense or costs incurred for the removal of the nuisance if the local authority fails to cause the removal of the nuisance.”Two medical practitioners’ certificates were attached to the complaint to confirm that odours from fish meal plants at Walvis Bay are offensive and dangerous.The architect of the petition, Louis Heyman, told The Namibian that while a public debate had raged in the local press, the factories had remained silent.A resident claimed in a letter to Council that the smells were costing Walvis Bay a huge amount of money.Citing a German guidebook reference to the town as a “smelly landmark”, she said: “We can only guess which image of Namibia the wealthy clients of the luxury cruise liners convey back home after their stopover at Walvis Bay.”Writing in similar vein, another resident said: “The situation can no longer be tolerated.It is worsening every year, creating a health hazard for all inhabitants.”He continued: “The fishing industry has a right to clean unpolluted waters for their catches: we the citizens of this town have the same right to clean, healthy and unpolluted air.”A prominent businessman at the town, Libolly Haufiku, echoed these sentiments.He told The Namibian that the odours were hampering all efforts to attract investment to the town.”There is no reason for us to be nice to them (the factories) any longer,” he said.”They have not done anything all those years when they made profits.I am calling on our councillors, whom we have elected, to act on this problem as a matter of urgency.”The particularly strong smell of late can mainly be attributed to good horse mackerel catches by the small pelagic industry.The industry received a global quota of 40 000 tonnes but catches are well beyond that level this year.Denise van Bergen, Chairperson of the Pelagic Association of Namibia, said last week that Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources had notified them that they had to halt fishing as the quota had been “overfilled”.The whole quota went on fish meal production.”I can’t remember when last we had such catches,” said Etosha Fisheries Managing Director Flip Conradie.”Normally we would carry on much longer.”Some vessels are said to have hauled 500 tonnes in a single scoop.Van Bergen maintained that the smell was no worse than in previous years.What was different, she said, was the distance over which the fish were being brought into port – up to 36 hours’ steaming from Walvis Bay.”We try to keep it as cold as possible, but by the time the fish arrive it is not fresh any more as this species of fish tends to decompose quickly,” she said.Conradie said he did not really want to comment “as it always only leads to a chain reaction”.However, he agreed that horse mackerel had been caught further away than usual.In defence of the fishing industry, Van Bergen said not as much money was going around as was generally believed.”There used to be a lot of money in the industry, but it did not all come back to Namibia,” she said.”None of us like the smell.We would love to see it go, but we have to keep as many people employed as possible.We have to keep the industry going while we are still struggling to recover from the over-exploitation of the resource.”Scientists say there are various ways to get rid of the smell, but they come at a price.The action plan of the Walvis Bay Municipality’s Local Agenda 21 programme is concerned with city pollution issues and singles out air quality as of particular importance.According to Willie Hall, of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), there was no reason that Walvis Bay could not rid itself of the smell.Speaking to The Namibian at the programme’s inception last year, he referred to Hout Bay, South Africa, another fishing town that doubles as a major tourist destination.He said fish smells there had been eradicated.Hall said the best solution was to install a chemical scrubber on top of the factory stack that would act as a deodorant.”The scrubber alone will not remove all odours, but it will definitely improve it by removing the most offensive smells.”Installing a scrubber costs about N$20 000, with operational costs running at anything between N$20 and N$200 an hour.In Namibia the Etosha factory would test the scrubber’s effectiveness, and others would follow suit, Conradie said.He said a CSIR official did preliminary tests two weeks ago but the official had been told further tests would be carried out once the canning process started.Conradie said the plan was to start on pilchard catches by April.Offal from pilchard canneries is one type of fish meal processed at Walvis Bay; others come from industrially processed fish, mainly horse mackerel, and from anchovies.Climatic conditions, especially wind direction and strength, are telling during fish meal production.When there is no wind, odours settle in the town; when the prevailing south-westerly wind blows, odours are dispersed; and during a north wind the odours blow into town.Conradie said the air had been still for most of the past month, which aggravated the smells.David Uushona, environmental manager of the Walvis Bay Municipality, confirmed that the Local Agenda 21 project was still active, and that the CSIR would be back working in co-operation with the factories from next month.A petition, signed by more than 100 people, was handed to the Municipality last week, demanding that the “cause of the nuisance be removed” and to serve notice on the “authors of the nuisance” in terms of the Public Health Act.The petition refers to a section of the Act [point (f) in Section 128 of Act 36 of 1919] which states: “Any factory or trade premises causing or giving rise to smells or effluvia which are offensive or which are injurious or dangerous to health, and the authors being fish meal plants” as motivation for their demand.The petition warns: “Please note that in terms of Section 128 (3) of the said Act, the Local Authority can be ordered to pay any expense or costs incurred for the removal of the nuisance if the local authority fails to cause the removal of the nuisance.”Two medical practitioners’ certificates were attached to the complaint to confirm that odours from fish meal plants at Walvis Bay are offensive and dangerous.The architect of the petition, Louis Heyman, told The Namibian that while a public debate had raged in the local press, the factories had remained silent.A resident claimed in a letter to Council that the smells were costing Walvis Bay a huge amount of money.Citing a German guidebook reference to the town as a “smelly landmark”, she said: “We can only guess which image of Namibia the wealthy clients of the luxury cruise liners convey back home after their stopover at Walvis Bay.”Writing in similar vein, another resident said: “The situation can no longer be tolerated.It is worsening every year, creating a health hazard for all inhabitants.”He continued: “The fishing industry has a right to clean unpolluted waters for their catches: we the citizens of this town have the same right to clean, healthy and unpolluted air.”A prominent businessman at the town, Libolly Haufiku, echoed these sentiments.He told The Namibian that the odours were hampering all efforts to attract investment to the town.”There is no reason for us to be nice to them (the factories) any longer,” he said.”They have not done anything all those years when they made profits.I am calling on our councillors, whom we have elected, to act on this problem as a matter of urgency.”The particularly strong smell of late can mainly be attributed to good horse mackerel catches by the small pelagic industry.The industry received a global quota of 40 000 tonnes but catches are well beyond that level this year.Denise van Bergen, Chairperson of the Pelagic Association of Namibia, said last week that Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources had notified them that they had to halt fishing as the quota had been “overfilled”.The whole quota went on fish meal production.”I can’t remember when last we had such catches,” said Etosha Fisheries Managing Director Flip Conradie.”Normally we would carry on much longer.”Some vessels are said to have hauled 500 tonnes in a single scoop.Van Bergen maintained that the smell was no worse than in previous years.What was different, she said, was the distance over which the fish were being brought into port – up to 36 hours’ steaming from Walvis Bay.”We try to keep it as cold as possible, but by the time the fish arrive it is not fresh any more as this species of fish tends to decompose quickly,” she said.Conradie said he did not really want to comment “as it always only leads to a chain reaction”.However, he agreed that horse mackerel had been caught further away than usual.In defence of the fishing industry, Van Bergen said not as much money was going around as was generally believed.”There used to be a lot of money in the industry, but it did not all come back to Namibia,” she said.”None of us like the smell.We would love to see it go, but we have to keep as many people employed as possible.We have to keep the industry going while we are still struggling to recover from the over-exploitation of the resource.”Scientists say there are various ways to get rid of the smell, but they come at a price.The action plan of the Walvis Bay Municipality’s Local Agenda 21 programme is concerned with city pollution issues and singles out air quality as of particular importance.According to Willie Hall, of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), there was no reason that Walvis Bay could not rid itself of the smell.Speaking to The Namibian at the programme’s inception last year, he referred to Hout Bay, South Africa, another fishing town that doubles as a major tourist destination.He said fish smells there had been eradicated.Hall said the best solution was to install a chemical scrubber on top of the factory stack that would act as a deodorant.”The scrubber alone will not remove all odours, but it will definitely improve it by removing the most offensive smells.”Installing a scrubber costs about N$20 000, with operational costs running at anything between N$20 and N$200 an hour.In Namibia the Etosha factory would test the scrubber’s effectiveness, and others would follow suit, Conradie said.He said a CSIR official did preliminary tests two weeks ago but the official had been told further tests would be carried out once the canning process started.Conradie said the plan was to start on pilchard catches by April.Offal from pilchard canneries is one type of fish meal processed at Walvis Bay; others come from industrially processed fish, mainly horse mackerel, and from anchovies.Climatic conditions, especially wind direction and strength, are telling during fish meal production.When there is no wind, odours settle in the town; when the prevailing south-westerly wind blows, odours are dispersed; and during a north wind the odours blow into town.Conradie said the air had been still for most of the past month, which aggravated the smells.David Uushona, environmental manager of the Walvis Bay Municipality, confirmed that the Local Agenda 21 project was still active, and that the CSIR would be back working in co-operation with the factories from next month.