Namibia, SA patrol seizes 32 tonnes of fish

Namibia and South Africa seized about 32 tonnes of fish and detected 12 suspected fisheries violations during a 25-day joint patrol aimed at fighting illegal fishing.

The operation ran from 5 to 30 September and covered waters in both countries. It started at Walvis Bay, moved through southern Namibian waters and entered South African waters as far as Cape Point before returning to Walvis Bay.

The patrol used Namibia’s Anna Kakurukaze Mungunda fisheries patrol vessel, with an all-Namibian crew.

Fisheries law enforcement officers from Namibia and South Africa worked together during the operation.

South Africa deployed four officers aboard the vessel and another two to Namibia’s Fisheries Monitoring Centre.

The officers on land helped track vessel movements and provided information to teams at sea.

Namibia’s national controller for the operation, Rosalia Mupetami, says officials recorded 94 vessel sightings and boarded and inspected 12 fishing vessels.

She says the operation detected 12 suspected fisheries violations.

Mupetami says officials issued five fines, opened one case docket, detained and arrested one fishing vessel and confiscated one set of fishing gear that did not comply with regulations.

They also monitored 76 foreign fishing vessels passing through South African waters.

“These figures are important. However, from a strategic perspective, the true value of this operation lies not in the statistics themselves, but in what those statistics reveal about the effectiveness and maturity of our monitoring, control and surveillance systems,” Mupetami says.

The patrol covered 2 945 nautical miles and spent 496 hours at sea.

Mupetami says strong winds and rough seas at times prevented inspectors from boarding vessels.

When inspectors could not board vessels, officials used vessel monitoring systems, automatic identification systems and information from fisheries monitoring centres to track fishing activity.

Mupetami says officials identified one fishing vessel after detecting problems with its vessel monitoring system transmissions, adding that they located the vessel, intercepted it and escorted it to port, where it was arrested and a settlement was later reached.

The joint patrol forms part of a fisheries and aquaculture cooperation agreement Namibia and South Africa signed on 21 January 2019.

The agreement covers aquaculture development, monitoring and surveillance, fisheries research, management of shared fish stocks and economic development.

South Africa’s department of forestry, fisheries and the environment director for international relations, Marisa Kashorte, says the patrol shows how the two countries are putting the agreement into practice.

“This operation has demonstrated that our maritime boundaries do not divide us. Rather, they connect us through a shared responsibility to protect the Benguela ecosystem and the valuable marine resources upon which so many livelihoods depend,” she says.

Hafeni Mungungu, director of operations at Namibia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform and co-chair of the monitoring, control and surveillance sub-committee, says the joint patrol will now become an annual operation.

“We do not view this operation as a solitary event. It is the new baseline,” Mungungu says.

Next year’s joint patrol is expected to take place aboard South Africa’s fisheries patrol vessel, the Saara Baartman.

South Africa will also host the next joint technical committee meeting this month, where the two countries will review the operation and discuss future cooperation.

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