Walvis Bay Fishing School

08/06/2022

FREE MAGAZINE COPIES GIVEAWAY TO CELEBRATE

To enter the competition;

1. Follow Walvis Bay Fishing School
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3. Tag 3 Friends

23/05/2022

Pre-order your copy by emailing us at; [email protected]

14/02/2022

Kindly take note

13/02/2022

"Today in Walvis, Fish washout (walkout)....this fish hasn't been cleared for human consumption please be careful" - Dr. Victoria Fofa Erasmus

09/02/2022

Magazine launch

01/02/2022

We are privileged and honoured to announce that James Mnyupe, the Economic Advisor to The President of the Republic of Namibia and the Green Hydrogen Commissioner has been confirmed as the Keynote Speaker for the Walvis Bay Fishing School magazine launch scheduled for Saturday, the 5th of February 2022 at the Walvis Bay Town Hall.

24/01/2022

We are hoping to raise funds for residential education programs to equip the Walvis Bay community with the academic edge necessary to excell in a competitive international job market both within Namibia and abroad.

18/01/2022

job opportunity available at the Walvis Bay Fishing School Magazine

09/01/2022

Our International Guest Speaker, Francisco Serra-Martins is a world renowned Techpreneur and Engineer who is passionate about applying design principles to reinvent how communities connect with technology.

He is a recognized Leader by the Geneva Center of Security Policy, Member of the UNDP Accelerator Lab and supported by the Draper Associates.

Francisco founded Dove Air, a cooperation engagement partner with the United Nations (UN) for drone aid delivery and maritime patrols across nine countries and
coordinated the engineering of unmanned aerial drones called Doves through serial production in South Africa's Special Economic Zone. Dove Air International recently teamed up with young Namibian entrepreneurs and registered a Namibian subsidiary Dove Air Technologies CC.

Francisco, personally led negotiations and secured an USD 11 million (N$ 172 million) contract for an entire ecosystem of services like surveillance, logistics, emergency medical aid capabilities and analysis for rapid deployment over 200 000 km².

Francisco, is responsible for identifying and advising the Directors of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute on strategies and implementation of new technologies and solutions in line with focus areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Healthcare or Sustainability by networking with academic communities, startups, and/or venture capital communities.

05/01/2022

Join Helena Ngaifiwa on the 5th of February 2022 to discover game-changing innovations and solutions anticipating the needs of the labour market and position economic development of our communities to attract investment in industries and services of the future.

27/12/2021

Our event is designed to bring together local stakeholders and present development projects to promote private sector participation in the planning, development, financing, construction and operation of facilities and services to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in Namibian territorial sea.

20/12/2021

The trade-in Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing deprives Namibia of over N$ 1 billion annually, we are planning to introduce a back-casting methodology approach to highlight where momentum must be broken and re-directed in order to achieve future objectives.

Tech skills under TVET and assembling our own drones in Namibia remains on top of our agenda.

13/12/2021

Join us on the 5th of February 2022 as we unpack the conversation regarding using unmanned aerial drones to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the territorial sea of Namibia, create new avenues of employment and teach our youth new aligned TVET skills as the market share increase.

10/12/2021

As part of our long term vision we are providing both efficient and cost-effective Unmanned Aerial Drones, Electronic Monitoring, Data Collection and Monitoring tools for fisheries management, which will assist our Government in meeting legislative objectives, demonstrate sustainability, support traceability schemes, reduce IUU fishing and increase profits.

28/10/2021

Click on the link below to read the informative article in the launch issue of our magazine by Salomo Hei, the Chairperson of the Namibia Statistics Agency Board.

https://walvisbayfishingschool.com/issues/issue_1/

15/10/2021

Have you ever wondered what happened to our sardines/pilchards?

Click on the link below to read the article on the collapse of our sardines/pilchards by Dr. Victoria Erasmus;

https://walvisbayfishingschool.com/issues/issue_1/

13/10/2021

"Despite Namibia exporting fish worth N$ 4.9 billion between January and June 2021, the fishing industry workers experience chronic exploitation that convincingly amounts to modern day slavery."

Click on the link below to read the full story titled "Chronic Exploitation of the Namibian Fishermen" by Ndeshy Hakaye and Amber Somses on page 5 and 6 of our magazine;

https://walvisbayfishingschool.com/issues/issue_1/

11/10/2021

We are honoured to share with you our launch issue;

https://walvisbayfishingschool.com/issues/issue_1/

07/10/2021

SADC Secretariat, in partnership with WWF, Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF) and CapMarine has the honour to invite you to the SADC Fisheries Webinar Series as we continue to Commemoration 20 Years of the SADC Protocol on Fisheries (2001), on the 11th October 2021, with a Webinar titled: "The Role of Observers in Combatting IUU Fishing in SADC Region", at 12H00-13H00 (UTC+2).

Kindly email us to receive the flyer with the ZOOM login details for the webinar at; [email protected]

05/10/2021

Walvis Bay residents usually look back and remember the good old days, when they did not have to worry about what they would eat.

According to the residents who grew up in the coastal town, a house without fish meant that there was no food in the house.

The residents say that life has changed drastically.

02/10/2021

Flamed Grilled Fish anyone? 📸

17/09/2021

Chronic Exploitation of Namibian Fishermen

Despite Namibia exporting fish worth N$ 4.9 billion between January and June 2021, the fishing industry workers are suffering from chronic exploitation that convincingly amounts to modern day slavery.

It is very critical that the Namibian government prioritize holding unscrupulous employers in the fishing industry accountable through robust enforcement of the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188) as tabled in the National Assembly by the Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation in 2018 and entered into force on the 18th of September 2019.

*NB* Full article will be published in the launch issue of the Walvis Bay Fishing School Magazine.

11/09/2021

How Port State measures work

Legal requirements;

Before a State can effectively implement Port State measures certain legal provisions are required within national legislation to support the required activities and actions.

These include establishing the procedure for accessing port, the powers of relevant officials in relation to Port State measures and of fence and penalties which help with enforcement of the procedure for accessing port.

Offences and penalties in coastal and flag State legislation are necessary for Port State measures to be an effective means of combating IUU fishing by increasing deterrence for non-compliance.

08/09/2021

Klazen urges more impactful donations

2021-09-06 by Eveline de Klerk

WALVIS BAY - The fishing industry should come up with better social responsibility projects instead of dishing out a few tins of fish and food parcels, as this does not yield the desired impact of shared natural resources as envisioned.

This is according to fisheries minister Derek Klazen, who was responding to questions raised by journalists during a press conference held shortly after the conclusion of the three-day retreat on selected policies and strategic matters that took place in Swakopmund last week.

Government has been advocating for shared resources as not all Namibians applying for rights can be granted quotas. As a result, successful applicants are obliged to also look at sharing such resources through social responsibility projects.

Klazen indicated that although the social responsibility arm means well, donating fish and food parcels is not sufficient as it does not uplift the community the way government wants.

“To give people a few tins of fish is not the way to go. Yes, they do need food to eat, but we need to look at ways to empower them better than food parcels. We need to make contributions that positively impact our communities,” he stressed.

The politician pointed out that one of the fishing companies just drilled a borehole in the Ohangwena region for the community. That’s an initiative that is more impactful than donating N$100 000 worth of fish or food parcels.

“Those are the types of contributions we want for our people. We should ask ourselves whether giving N$100 000 worth of fish or to construct a house of N$30 000 through the Shack Dwellers’ Federation of Namibia will make a better impact,” Klazen stated.

He added that they will soon consult with the industry to further promote sustainable management and ensure a more profitable fishing industry.

https://neweralive.na/posts/klazen-urges-more-impactful-donations

The fishing industry should come up with better social responsibility projects instead of dishing out a few tins of fish and food parcels, as this does not yield the desired impact of shared natural resources as envisioned.

07/09/2021

Fisheries agency warns against pilchard harvesting

News - National | 2021-09-07 Page no: 5
by Ester Mbathera

DESPITE reports of pilchards being caught as bycatch, especially by horse mackerel vessels, the Fisheries Observer Agency (FOA) has warned against the harvesting of this species.

In a strong-worded letter to the fishing industry, the agency's operations manager, Victoria Erasmus, warned that a penalty would be charged for sardines being caught as bycatch.

“Observers will be vigilant to avert the dumping of unwanted catches, and equally advise captains to move away from areas with potential or reported high catches of sardine (pilchard),” Erasmus wrote.

The harvesting of pilchards is currently not permitted as a moratorium is still in place on the catching of the species.

The moratorium came to an end at the end of last year.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources will, however, send its research team out in October to establish whether the pilchard stock has recovered.

Although vessels have on numerous occasions reported coming across large schools of pilchards in catches in waters beyond a depth of 200m isobath, Erasmus, who is also a researcher, said this does not mean the species has recovered.

“Sardine recovery is a far-fetched possibility, and requires everybody pulling in the same direction. The industry has a huge responsibility in managing these resources, and it's not limited to maximum removal, but also involves cooperation and self-policing,” she said.

Namibia first imposed a moratorium on pilchards in 2002.

The species has been under pressure since 1969 after extensive fishing and unfavourable environmental conditions.

There are currently no pilchard rights holders.

This has put tremendous pressure on the canning industry and threatens job losses.

The only canning factory in the country, Etosha Fishing, has in the past three years been importing pilchards from Morocco to sustain jobs.

Graca D'Almeida, the director of resource management in the fisheries ministry, says no survey has been done in the past three years.

Matti Amukwa, the chairperson of the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations, believes vessels that landed pilchards targeted the species intentionally.

“What is important is that whatever is caught as a bycatch needs to be landed,” he says.

According to him, the fisheries ministry needs to furnish the industry with information on the current status of the species.

Amukwa wants to know why the survey was not done in the three years that the moratorium was in place.

“Each and every year, they should have done research to compare. If they are going out now, how are they going to compare if the fish has recovered? I don't know if what they will find now will be a true reflection for the ministry to make a decision on whether to allocate rights,” he says.

The Namibian last week reported that scientists do not believe the pilchard resource has recovered.

They are proposing that the ministry study the status and breeding success of seabirds, which are pilchard predators.

https://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=105069&page=read

DESPITE reports of pilchards being caught as bycatch, especially by horse mackerel vessels, the Fisheries Observer Agency (FOA) has warned against the harvesting of this species.

06/09/2021

On the 20th of September 2018 Namibia ratified the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188) and the Convention entered into force for Namibia on 20 September 2019.

The Work in Fishing Convention, 2007, provides the key elements of a labour standard in the fishing sector with regard to recruitment of fishers, improving living and working conditions on board fishing vessels, and providing social security.

It can protect fishers against inhuman working conditions, and should help improve the working and living conditions of fishers, both in
large and small-scale fishing operations, around the world.

05/09/2021

Management and development of fisheries in Namibia is the responsibility of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR).

The two primary legal instruments governing marine fisheries are:

1. Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone of Namibia Act (no. 3 of 1990);

2. Marine Resource Act (no. 27 of 2000)

04/09/2021

Why are you not buying fish and other local seafood on a daily basis like you buy meat?

04/09/2021

The total earnings from exports of fish and other fishing products in quarter one of 2021 stood at N$ 57.7 million, which is an increase from the N$ 51.6 million that was recorded in quarter one of 2020. This is an increase of 11.9%.

The largest destination of Namibian fish is Spain and accounts for 53.5% of total exports of fishery products.