The Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Sylvia Makgone, explained why Swapo Party MPs objected to McHenry Venaani's Private Members Bill to amend the Marine Resources Amendment Act of 2000.

The bill sought to further amend the Act from giving sole discretionary powers to the Minister to allocate quotas to the National Fishing Corporation.

The proposed amendment divided the House, with PDM parliamentarians waving placards in the house in favour of the motion.

The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Derek Klazen, has pleaded with the industry to give his ministry more time to conduct pre-licencing investigations.
 
This, Klazen says, will help to avoid the licencing of vessels linked to illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing activities or having to partake in them.

Klazen's response follows a number of complaints from would-be licensees that the ministry takes too long to issue vessel licences.

Former Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Bernhardt Esau has refuted claims that the fishing corruption scandal has resulted in an estimated 18 000 job losses in the fishing industry.

Esau maintained that the job losses were a result of the illegal strike the workers undertook.

At the height of the events surrounding the Fishrot scandal, fishermen who were employed by the Samherji-owned Saga Seafood, which operated from Walvis Bay, closed down.

These fishermen were subsequently robbed of their livelihood.