President Dr Nandi-Ndaitwah puts Namibia’s fisheries on notice as declining stocks trigger warning against political and commercial interference.
President Dr Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has delivered one of the starkest warnings yet over the future of Namibia’s fishing industry, declaring that science, not politics or commercial interests, must determine how the country manages its shrinking marine resources.
Addressing the first National Fisheries Indaba in Walvis Bay, the President said Namibia could not afford to bend scientific findings to satisfy competing interests in an industry already facing growing concerns over declining fish stocks. Her message was that nature cannot be negotiated with. “We could not negotiate with it. And that is exactly what it is when it comes to the fishery,” Dr Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
She questioned whether scientific evidence is being diluted when government and industry scientists, trained in the same disciplines, arrive at conflicting conclusions about the state of Namibia’s fisheries. “If government scientists and industry scientists read the same books and went to the same schools, but give different answers, what type of natural science is this?” she asked.
The President suggested that commercial interests may be increasingly influencing decisions that should be guided by the long-term health of the resource.
“There must be, somewhere, a mix of natural science and social science. Perhaps the interests are too commercialised, and we are not thinking about the future,” she said.
Her warning comes as Namibia confronts difficult questions about the sustainability of an industry that supports thousands of jobs and contributes significantly to the economy.
Dr Nandi-Ndaitwah cautioned that the industry can no longer be taken for granted. “This is not the time for politics at the level at which our fishing industry currently finds itself. This is the time for science to speak. This is the time for science to guide us.” She said Namibia must act on scientific findings even when doing so creates difficult consequences for industry and other stakeholders.
The President urged all parties to put the long-term national interest ahead of immediate economic demands, warning that Namibia’s natural wealth must be managed without manipulation from any corner of the industry.
Her intervention places the future of fishing squarely within the broader reform agenda being debated at the Fisheries Indaba, where government is examining everything from scientific management and fishing rights to transparency, monitoring, value addition and the distribution of benefits.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the industry may not be able to continue supporting as many people as it has in the past if fish stocks continue to deteriorate. That makes the decisions being taken now potentially more consequential than ever. She nevertheless believes a properly managed industry can deliver broad-based prosperity.
“Our natural wealth can truly assist our people,” she said. “But I can tell you that if we all agree to manage it without any manipulation from any corner of the industry, this industry can deliver shared and balanced prosperity for all of us.”
The President ended with a message that could become the defining slogan of Namibia’s fisheries reform drive: “Our fish, our future, let us shape it together.”
For an industry under pressure, the warning is unmistakable: Namibia cannot bargain with nature, and politics cannot rewrite science.
By Rudi Bowe
