Fisheries Observer Agency snubbed at Walvis Bay talks

The Fisheries Observer Agency (FOA), responsible for at-sea compliance monitoring and data collection, was excluded from Walvis Bay consultations on proposed fisheries regulations, raising concern among stakeholders.

The consultations, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, began on Tuesday and cover a wide range of proposed regulations, including bottom depth trawling and longlining restrictions, hake conservation measures, port state measures, marine mammals, seals and marine-based tourism.

An FOA official, who attended the consultations later in the day, says the agency was only contacted on Tuesday morning and joined after the programme had already started.

FOA chief executive Stanley Ndara has confirmed the agency’s exclusion, saying it is not an isolated incident and he believes it was deliberate.

“The ministry always does this. This time it was deliberate, and I do not know why they do that,” Ndara says.

“We were called at around 10h00 on Tuesday, after the meeting had begun. These consultations deal directly with the work of fisheries observers, so excluding the FOA from the start makes no sense.”

He says the ministry later apologised for the exclusion.

“Yes, they apologised, but this keeps happening. It affects coordination and the effectiveness of the observer programme.”

The ongoing consultations will discuss the amendments to hake conservation and port state measures, marine-based tourism and seal regulations, among other topics.

Deputy executive director at the ministry Ueritjiua Kauaria says the exclusion of the FOA was not intentional and describes it as an oversight.

He says the FOA falls under the fisheries ministry and there was no intention to exclude it.

“We are from the same ministry, and the ministry of fisheries pays their salaries. There was no need for a formal invitation because they are part of the same organisation,” Kauaria says.

He says the FOA’s participation in the consultations was welcomed once the oversight was identified.

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