Pilchard collapse threatens jobs

DESPITE the prevailing dearth of pilchards potentially spelling the end of Namibia’s pelagic fishing industry, the fisheries ministry is hopeful that stocks will recover.

Fisheries permanent secretary Moses Maurihungirire ascribed the current environmental challenges to climate change, although the ministry was still researching to establish causes and determine future directions.

“We are hopeful because of some good traces of pilchard abundances in deeper waters, but on average globally fish stocks are declining, and climate change accelerates that decline. The warming, rising, more acidic seas affect habitats and reproduction,” he explained, adding that Namibia has never experienced a slump such as the current one.

“In this very imperfect world, we shall encounter misfortunes and undesirable circumstances. But we have to learn to calmly resolve them without panic and infighting, otherwise we will lose our foothold in their resolution. Thus, let us put our heads together to resolve how we shall mitigate the effects of reduced availability,” he urged.

The aggressive exploitation of Namibia’s pilchards before independence, and poor decisions by the fisheries ministry since then, exacerbated by growing seal populations and climate change, have all been blamed for a situation from which there does not appear to be any turning back for the industry.

Industry stakeholders, however, say this was all speculation and that much more research was needed.

Even the latest quota of 14 000 tonnes (of which 4 000 went to research) could not be landed during the last season, from 1 April to 31 August. Industry sources said only 3 960 tonnes were landed.

Industry sources said for the past two years the full quota and the research quota have not been fully landed, placing immense pressure on operators, as well as leaving the industry to foot the bill for the research.

In fact, the status quo will see many Namibians without work soon, while pilchard operators are being forced to import stock from elsewhere, just to keep their heads above water.

The managing director of Etosha Fishing Corporation, Pieter Greeff, said his company started importing frozen pilchards as far back as 2010 and thereafter annually increased its capacity in order to sustain jobs. It also invests significantly in thawing equipment to process the imported pilchards.

This year, Etosha has imported 4 400 tonnes of frozen pilchards. However, to survive, it needs to import at least 8 700 tonnes.

“Even before 2010, we realised that we had to start diversifying our production and not only rely on local resources, hence the decision to import frozen pilchards from Morocco. This is a cut-throat industry, but at least the imports allow us to cover our fixed costs and ensure jobs for our employees,” he explained.

Greeff, who is also the chairman of the Pelagic Fishing Association, said there was “not much hope” as far as landing Namibian pilchard was concerned. But Namibian pelagic companies do have the equipment and capabilities to can for specific brands which will always need the product.

He said pilchard catches in South Africa were just as low.

“The South African canned pilchard market is huge, and the market will always require canned pilchards. Therefore, if the local companies are geared to process frozen fish cost-effectively, they can stay in business,” he said.

He, however, said it was possible that the industry could disappear. He nonetheless feels that it may be unwise for companies to close their doors, just to reopen when the pilchards return, as such an exercise would burn millions in start-up costs.

“If we can’t process frozen pilchards at break-even level, we will have to consider closing down. Without those volumes it will not be viable to keep our doors open,” he stressed.

Seasonal workers in the industry are already feeling the pinch due to the continuous underperformance of the canneries because of a lack of volumes. The pelagic industry thus has to decide to minimise risk.

Greeff added that climate change and environmental conditions, as well as seals, “definitely” affect the pilchard resource.

“How can we not find the pilchard in one year, and the next year it is there again? We started the year off with skippers reporting back that we will finish our total allowable catch (TAC) as there are huge shoals, and then after bad weather in Cape Town at the beginning of June, the pilchards just disappeared,” he said. “Also, we have to start looking at methods to control our seal population much better in order to not have such a severe influence on our fish stocks.”

Greeff also said that the industry had to look at how to remain sustainable in future with the canning of fish products to remain relevant. This would require the ministry to allocate other fisheries species’ quotas to subsidise the import of pilchards for the industry to keep on processing frozen pilchards sustainably until stocks were large enough to issue a TAC again.

Issuing a minimum of 7 500 tonnes of horse mackerel for canning to each facility would ensure the survival of the canneries. This would also assist the canneries to import frozen pilchards, and would lengthen the lifespans of canneries and retain employment, he said.

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