Hake needs protection: Minister

THE four-week closed season introduced last month for the hake fishing industry – which saw more than 80 fishing vessels lying idle in port and workers go on forced leave – is necessary to protect the hake resource, the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources says.

Minister Abraham Iyambo told the National Assembly on Wednesday that hake was the most important species for the Namibian fishing industry, contributing about N$2,5 billion in export earnings last year. The closed season imposed for the whole of last month – a first for the local fishing sector – was necessary because scientific analysis showed that September and October were the most active breeding months of the hake species.”A recent hake survey, carried out in January and February this year, brought mixed results with a 123 per cent increase of juvenile hake biomass compared to 2005,” Iyambo said.”These are fish less than 36 centimetres long.Paradoxically, the spawner biomass, being female hake which lay eggs, showed a sharp decline of 35 per cent compared to 2005.”This is a matter of concern to us because bigger female fish lay more eggs and firmer in texture than smaller fish.On average an adult female hake, which is around 80 cm long, can lay some 900 000 eggs a year, while a smaller one of just 50 cm would lay only 140 000 eggs per year,” Iyambo said.”The survival of the eggs plays a vital role and we try to find an explanation why there is such a big increase of juvenile fish but a 35 per cent decrease in female adult stock.”Another protective measure for hake introduced this year was a closed area, prohibiting vessels from fishing in depths of less than 200 metres.Freezer vessels, which cut and pack the hake catches on board for export, are not allowed to fish in less than 350 metres of water.Wetfish vessels, which bring the fish onshore to be processed in factories at Walvis Bay and Luederitz, may not fish in water depths of less than 300 m.The closed season imposed for the whole of last month – a first for the local fishing sector – was necessary because scientific analysis showed that September and October were the most active breeding months of the hake species.”A recent hake survey, carried out in January and February this year, brought mixed results with a 123 per cent increase of juvenile hake biomass compared to 2005,” Iyambo said.”These are fish less than 36 centimetres long.Paradoxically, the spawner biomass, being female hake which lay eggs, showed a sharp decline of 35 per cent compared to 2005.”This is a matter of concern to us because bigger female fish lay more eggs and firmer in texture than smaller fish.On average an adult female hake, which is around 80 cm long, can lay some 900 000 eggs a year, while a smaller one of just 50 cm would lay only 140 000 eggs per year,” Iyambo said.”The survival of the eggs plays a vital role and we try to find an explanation why there is such a big increase of juvenile fish but a 35 per cent decrease in female adult stock.”Another protective measure for hake introduced this year was a closed area, prohibiting vessels from fishing in depths of less than 200 metres.Freezer vessels, which cut and pack the hake catches on board for export, are not allowed to fish in less than 350 metres of water.Wetfish vessels, which bring the fish onshore to be processed in factories at Walvis Bay and Luederitz, may not fish in water depths of less than 300 m.

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