Democratic Republic of Congo of opinion Namibian horse mackerel “too expensive”

One of the Namibian fishing industry’s main horse mackerel trade partner in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), says Namibian horse mackerel landed in that country is too expensive, because there are too many agents involved in the supply chain. That is according to the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Derek Klazen.

The DRC’s solution to the problem seems to lie in the purchase of horse mackerel on Namibia’s cyclical Government Objective fish auctions.
In fact, a total of 27 300 metric tons of horse mackerel was recently purchased by the DRC on the fish auction of the 2021 Total Allowable Catch (TAC). The DRC is now searching for a technical partner in Namibia to catch the fish and deliver it to its main port of Matadi.
The 2021 TAC for horse mackerel is 330 000 metric tons. Of that 87 000 tons were isolated as Government Objective Quota. A to-tal of 55 000 tons were already auctioned. The DRC purchased the remaining 27 300 tons, the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Derek Klazen, explained during a media briefing in Walvis Bay earlier this week.
According to the minister, the auctioning of horse mackerel already added N$397,6 million to State coffers. A delegation of the DRC, led by the country’s National Minister of Economic, Jean-Marie Kalumba Yuma, has been in Namibia by Tuesday to finalise the arrangements for the payment, according to Klazen.
The background of the Government Objective Quotas:
In March 2019 President Hage Geingob appointed a 22-member High-Level Panel on the Namibian Economy (HLPNE) to come up with a strategy for the country’s economic recovery. The Panel among others took a critical look at the country’s natural resources (including fish) and recommended a transparent bid-ding process whereby portions of the annual Total Allowable Catch be allocated as Government Objective Quotas. These quotas are put on auction to the highest bidder (at reserve prices per ton) and the proceeds paid into the National Treasury.
The very first auction was held last year. There were hick-ups and many bidders could not honour their commitments.
Despite, the hake quota allocated as Government Objective sold for N$178 million.