Fisheries and Marine Resources minister, Derek Klazen has dissected the Seal conundrum which to date has had an increasing and devastating effect on the sustainable harvesting of Namibia’s fish stocks.
At independence in 1990, Namibia was estimated to have had a Seals population of approximately 350, 000 individuals. At present government estimates the current Seals population in Namibia to be between 1.5 – 2 million individuals or even more. It is not the number of Seals in Namibia that is a concern, it is more the quantities of fish that these Seals eat per day. One adult Seal eats approximately 3.8 Kg of fish per day. This means that 1.5 million Seals would eat 5,700,000Kg or 5,700 metric tons of fish per day or 2,080,500 metric tons of fish per year. This amount is about 4 times more the annual combined TAC for hake, horse mackerel and monk per year.
Klazen was responding to Mike Kavekotora in the National Assembly who had raised the matter further appreciating that Namibia’s fish stocks in facing depletion if remedial actions are not taken as a matter of urgency.
A concerned Kavakotora has also requested that this matter be referred to a relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee for further investigation with a return of service via a report back to this august house.
“As Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, the amount of fish estimated to be consumed by Seals per year is simply unacceptable. However, speaking to Seals conservationists and environmentalists their opinion appear to be simply based on that Seals do not eat salads and pastas like humans do, they only eat fish, therefore let them eat as much fish as they are able to find in the waters.
“This opinion offers serious challenges to Seals management since they threaten that if countries increase harvesting of seals, they will advocate banning of trade in other fish species such as hake and horse mackerel and would also advocate for Western tourists to stay away from countries that harvest Seals. Moreover, this opinion from environmentalists groups affect the markets to which Namibia could export Seals products,” Klazen stated adding that countries with good markets for Seals products are careful to buy seals products in wake of them being sanctioned for other goods and services.
“This situation puts my Ministry is a very difficult situation to manage the Seals fishery,” affirms Klazen.
“In 2020 there were Seals harvesting rights that were granted to continue the utilization of Seals as any other marine resource. Different Seals harvesting methods have been under evaluation in terms of animal welfare to the animals, ease of harvesting and cost associated there with. Efforts were applied to make the only Seals processing factory in Henties Bay to continue to operate. In fact the National Youth Council (NYC) was made a Governmental Objective Seals Quota beneficiary together with the Seals processing factory,” Klazen tried to explain.
He went on to note that other options that government could look at would be perhaps to increase to allocation of bulls as oppose to pups, lengthen the seals harvesting season and improve on value added products such as fish meal, omega 3 extracts, and leather products.
“Also, we are evaluating the possibility of disrupting the mating process of the Seals so as to decrease birth rates,” he said.
Adding further context to the matter, Klazen noted that the issue of management of Seals is not as simple as it may be portrayed to be. In terms of Namibian law, Seals are classified as marine resources and should ideally be management similar to all other marine resources.
“However, as the international fisheries management fraternity would have it, Namibian fisheries management law is entangled in other fisheries management Conventions to which Namibia is a party. International Fisheries Management Conventions and Agreements to which many developing States including Namibia are members to; makes the management of Seals in Namibia particularly complicated. International environmentalist groups and consumers particularly in Western countries pose challenges to national, sovereign fisheries management efforts,” he said.
Namibian Seals are listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as a threatened species. This listing on the CITES Appendix II means that species is not necessarily threatened with extinction, but trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization that is incompatible with their survival.