Industry slams secretive fishing quota cuts

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform has not publicly announced the total allowable catch (TAC) for the 2026 horse mackerel fishing season which started on 1 January.Instead, the ministry sent letters to rights holders stating how much the company received and that the TAC had been reduced by 5%.

“In view of the 5% reduction of the 2026 horse mackerel TAC, the minister has allocated freezer horse mackerel quota to your company. This allocation is subject to the standard conditions pertaining to your right of exploitation and the following conditions as determined by the minister as per section 39 (3) of the Marine Resources Act,” reads the letter dated 19 December 2025 and signed by executive director Teofilus Nghitila. The rights holders, according to the letter, are required to submit a monthly return on or before the seventh day of each month, including zero returns, to the inspectorate office at the port of entry.

The rights holders are also required to submit quarterly volumes and products produced.

“All uncaught horse mackerel quota must be returned to the ministry strictly by 31 October, failure to which quota fees should be paid in full including uncaught fish,” says Nghitila.

The rights holders are required to settle all outstanding quota-related fees and levies. They were expected to accept the allocated quotas in writing before or on 23 December 2025.In previous years, the TAC was made public before the fishing started on the first day of the year, including what was set aside for the government objectives quota, the reserve and the allocation to the company.The letter from Nghitila did not indicate what biomass or stock assessment was used to determine the TAC allocation or the reduction, and the ministry did not indicate how much is allocated for wet and freezer quotas.

In the last fishing season, Cabinet publicly approved a TAC of 208 000 tonnes based on a scientific survey that estimated horse mackerel biomass at 829 000 tonnes and showed an 8% decline in the stock.

The ministry also used to deduct quotas from companies that had overcaught in the previous season, which is not the case this time around. Questions sent to the ministry last Wednesday were not answered.

Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations chairperson Matti Amukwa questions the motive of the decision not to communicate the allocation publicly.

“For the industry to function efficiently, it needs a reliable management environment to plan fishing activities and secure supply contracts with customers. Companies require timely information about the TAC, the share allocated to them, the quantity reserved for government purposes and when these reserves will become available for landing,” he says. Amukwa wants the ministry to explain what he describes as an ‘abrupt change’ made without informing the industry.The industry also observed that in the current allocation some companies received only freezer quotas, contrary to the 60/40 quota allocation ratio, while others received both wet and freezer quotas.

“These arbitrary changes create challenges for the sector, which is already struggling with reduced landings and now faces operational adjustments due to shifting quotas. It also undermines the stability in the industry, and creates uncertainty and tension. There is no more predictability and this makes it more challenging when companies plan their operations,” says Amukwa.

He adds that not all rights holders had their overcatch deducted.

Amukwa says some companies received additional quotas on top of their overcatches compared to last year, despite the overall TAC reduction. Rights holders for horse mackerel referred media queries to Amukwa.

Independent Patriots for Change chief whip and shadow minister of international relations and trade Rodney Cloete says the failure to announce the 2026 horse mackerel TAC was not accidental.

He says it prevents public scrutiny and weakens accountability in the fisheries sector.

“The fishing season started 11 days ago and there is still no TAC announcement. This is not an administrative delay. This is how the system works,” Cloete adds.

He links the secrecy to wider governance problems in the sector, noting that the concentration of power in the fisheries minister under the Marine Resources Act has not been reversed since the Fishrot corruption scandal.

“Fishrot showed us what happens with that power. The accused are in court, but the system that produced them is untouched. Six years later, we still don’t know who owns our fish,” he says.

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