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.

He says illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing activities remain a great threat to global efforts for sustainable management of fisheries resources, both within maritime boundaries and within inland waters.
 
He says that as a country of laws, processes, and systems, the curtailing of IUUs remains an essential weapon in the fight to ensure that fisheries resources are sustained.

"The licencing of a vessel is invariably preceded by an investigation into the prior conduct or operations of a vessel, especially regarding its involvement with IUU, and these investigations typically take time to complete as Namibia relies not only on its own systems but also may require the assistance of neighbouring coastal states and other international partner states or organisations for collaboration in information and data sharing."

Klazen says Namibia is a country within the community of nations globally belonging to, subscribing to, and adhering to global good practices, norms, and traditions when dealing with fisheries management.

"As such, it remains important to remember that because of these international commitments and our own ethos as a country, we must display vigour, ingenuity, and strategy when battling IUU fishing activities, especially when vessels suspected of having participated in illegal fishing activities are besieging us for licencing, wishing to start with fishing operations in Namibia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)."