Pilchard industry slumps Fishermen throw in the towel

NO pilchard have been caught since a 25 000-tonne total allowable catch was announced for the current season.

“We have decided to call it a day,” Hugo Viljoen, Chairperson of the Pelagic Association of Namibia, told The Namibian this week. “It is no longer financially viable to continue looking for fish.”Repeated search efforts by the industry and surveys conducted by the scientists of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources delivered no results.Viljoen said they remained hopeful, first waiting for the water to warm up, then waiting for the results of the October survey, and another search effort two weeks after the survey, but every time no significant schools of fish were found.”We used two of our boats to take part in the October survey with the Welwitschia research vessel that took us from south of Walvis Bay all the way to Angola and back.The results were highly disappointing.”The latest stroke of bad luck for the small pelagic sector adds to the woes of the fishing industry as a whole over the past five years.”We are now worse off than two years ago,” said Viljoen of the longest slump since the collapse of the pilchard resource in the mid-1990s.The quota was reduced from 125 000 tonnes in 1994 to 40 000 tonnes in 1995, and reduced again by 20 000 tonnes in 1996.As is happening now, no fish was landed in 1996.Viljoen says he is not an environmental expert but he feels there is a serious imbalance in the ecosystem, characterised by an over-population of jellyfish.”The jellyfish eat [fish] eggs and larva, while the only predator of jellyfish is the marine turtle.We would need an Etosha full of turtles to control the masses of jellyfish in the sea at the moment.”Another problem with jellyfish drifting on the surface of the ocean is that they cause damage to fishing nets and block circulation systems in vessels.”Unfortunately jellyfish have no commercial value that we could use to our benefit.”The jellyfish explosion seems to be a worldwide problem, with warnings issued to bathers at Mediterranean beaches the past summer because of large numbers of jellyfish in the ocean.The Times reported that Japanese fishermen chasing anchovies, salmon and yellowtail began finding huge numbers of the jellyfish in their nets.Fishermen on the northern tip of Honshu, Japan’s main island, were forced to suspend work at the height of the lucrative salmon season, while some communities saw their incomes fall by 80 per cent.”In some places jellyfish density is reported to be a hundred times higher than normal.Worst of all, no one yet understands why.One theory is that global warming is heating up the seawater and encouraging jellyfish breeding,” The Times reported.In the box-office hit movie on global warming, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, former US Vice President Al Gore also refers to jellyfish and the problems it causes for fisheries.STARVING SEALS Viljoen said another indication of problems with the pilchard resource was the fact that seals were starving in great numbers.They primarily feed on pilchards.A further concern that Viljoen said should be sorted in future was that the quota should be announced as soon as possible after the official survey to ensure the industry did not miss opportunities to get to large schools of fish.The only opportunity that turned favourable for the pelagic sector this year was the 45 000-tonne horse mackerel quota for processing into fishmeal.The quota was 100 000 tonnes in 1997.”The fishmeal prices were stable with a high demand from especially the Far East,” said Viljoen.Two fishmeal factories were running from January to April to process the quota for export to SADC countries, as well as Japan and China.Fishmeal is mainly used for animal feed in southern Africa, while the Far Eastern countries use it in the aquaculture industry.The announcement of the new quota for next year dealt the sector a further blow when the TAC was reduced to 35 000 tonnes.”We can only hope it would be increased again after the survey in February,” said Viljoen.”I foresee a terribly difficult future for our sector should we not catch anything again next season.”He said the number of boats operating had already been reduced from 12 to nine for next season.In 1990 there were more than 45 vessels involved in harvesting.”There would have to be some serious consolidation if we are to survive.”Viljoen said the pelagic sector was only active for four months this year to catch the mackerel quota.”Since May we have had no income, while we had to keep huge investments going, like factories, boats and workers, as well as research efforts.”In addition, the seasonal factory workers – about 800 at the one cannery still in operation and about 300 at the one freezing facility – had to commit themselves to work the season, but in the end received no income because no fish was caught.The only pilchard landed this season was a by-catch of approximately 3 000 tonnes with the horse mackerel quota.* Maggi Barnard is a freelance journalist.”It is no longer financially viable to continue looking for fish.”Repeated search efforts by the industry and surveys conducted by the scientists of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources delivered no results.Viljoen said they remained hopeful, first waiting for the water to warm up, then waiting for the results of the October survey, and another search effort two weeks after the survey, but every time no significant schools of fish were found.”We used two of our boats to take part in the October survey with the Welwitschia research vessel that took us from south of Walvis Bay all the way to Angola and back.The results were highly disappointing.”The latest stroke of bad luck for the small pelagic sector adds to the woes of the fishing industry as a whole over the past five years.”We are now worse off than two years ago,” said Viljoen of the longest slump since the collapse of the pilchard resource in the mid-1990s. The quota was reduced from 125 000 tonnes in 1994 to 40 000 tonnes in 1995, and reduced again by 20 000 tonnes in 1996.As is happening now, no fish was landed in 1996.Viljoen says he is not an environmental expert but he feels there is a serious imbalance in the ecosystem, characterised by an over-population of jellyfish.”The jellyfish eat [fish] eggs and larva, while the only predator of jellyfish is the marine turtle.We would need an Etosha full of turtles to control the masses of jellyfish in the sea at the moment.”Another problem with jellyfish drifting on the surface of the ocean is that they cause damage to fishing nets and block circulation systems in vessels.”Unfortunately jellyfish have no commercial value that we could use to our benefit.”The jellyfish explosion seems to be a worldwide problem, with warnings issued to bathers at Mediterranean beaches the past summer because of large numbers of jellyfish in the ocean.The Times reported that Japanese fishermen chasing anchovies, salmon and yellowtail began finding huge numbers of the jellyfish in their nets.Fishermen on the northern tip of Honshu, Japan’s main island, were forced to suspend work at the height of the lucrative salmon season, while some communities saw their incomes fall by 80 per cent.”In some places jellyfish density is reported to be a hundred times higher than normal.Worst of all, no one yet understands why.One theory is that global warming is heating up the seawater and encouraging jellyfish breeding,” The Times reported.In the box-office hit movie on global warming, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, former US Vice President Al Gore also refers to jellyfish and the problems it causes for fisheries.STARVING SEALS Viljoen said another indication of problems with the pilchard resource was the fact that seals were starving in great numbers.They primarily feed on pilchards.A further concern that Viljoen said should be sorted in future was that the quota should be announced as soon as possible after the official survey to ensure the industry did not miss opportunities to get to large schools of fish.The only opportunity that turned favourable for the pelagic sector this year was the 45 000-tonne horse mackerel quota for processing into fishmeal.The quota was 100 000 tonnes in 1997.”The fishmeal prices were stable with a high demand from especially the Far East,” said Viljoen.Two fishmeal factories were running from January to April to process the quota for export to SADC countries, as well as Japan and China.Fishmeal is mainly used for animal feed in southern Africa, while the Far Eastern countries use it in the aquaculture industry.The announcement of the new quota for next year dealt the sector a further blow when the TAC was reduced to 35 000 tonnes.”We can only hope it would be increased again after the survey in February,” said Viljoen.”I foresee a terribly difficult future for our sector should we not catch anything again next season.”He said the number of boats operating had already been reduced from 12 to nine for next season.In 1990 there were more than 45 vessels involved in harvesting.”There would have to be some serious consolidation if we are to survive.”Viljoen said the pelagic sector was only active for four months this year to catch the mackerel quota.”Since May we have had no income, while we had to keep huge investments going, like factories, boats and workers, as well as research efforts.”In addition, the seasonal factory workers – about 800 at the one cannery still in operation and about 300 at the one freezing facility – had to commit themselves to work the season, but in the end received no income because no fish was caught.The only pilchard landed this season was a by-catch of approximately 3 000 tonnes with the horse mackerel quota.* Maggi Barnard is a freelance journalist.