Saga Seafood explains its position on Samherji's withdrawal from Namibia

NAMIBIA
Friday, February 07, 2020, 07:00 (GMT + 9)

Saga Seafood Namibia, the operating company in Namibia for Icelandic fishing company Samherji, opened up to the Walvis Bay Urban constituency regional councillor on Tuesday afternoon to explain its position on its partner's withdrawal from Namibia.

The company's manager, Jacqueline Thiardt, held a brief meeting with regional councilor Knowledge Ipinge to explain the situation surrounding the hasty departure of the fishing vessels Saga and Geysir from Namibia last week.

“The vessels did not skip the country as portrayed in the media. The reason for the vessels leaving is that there is no quota for them to operate on. All necessary permissions from the relevant authorities were obtained.

"FV Saga went for repairs. She was scheduled for repairs in June 2020 but instead of doing nothing here it was decided to take her for early dry docking.

“FV Geysir was sent to Mauritania to fish there. There is Namibian crew on board Geysir who will work on the vessel whilst operating in Mauritania. If the quota situation changes and the vessels can be licensed to work in Namibia, they will return,” she said.

MV Geysir formerly Jose Marti (Venezuela State own trawler)

During the meeting, Thiardt informed the councillor that Saga Seafood had a catch agreement with the state-owned Fishcor which expired at the end of December 2019 and that the parties failed to negotiate a new agreement.

She also informed the councillor that the company has since been assisted by Tunacor Fishing with limited quotas for the month of January, but thereafter Saga Seafood failed to secure more quotas.

Ipinge confirmed having had a meeting with Thiardt.

“This situation is two-fold in the sense that her hands are cut off, even if she wants the crew to go fish, what will they go catch in the absence of a catching agreement. On the other hand, those with fish quotas might not want to work with Saga Seafood as a result of their link to the Fishrot affiliation,” said Ipinge.

In a letter addressed to Ludmilla Doeses, the Erongo Regional Council chief regional officer, Ipinge made a proposal that she recommends to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources “for all extensions and new fishing rights to be allocated with chief priority to directly empower fishing industry employees, effective as from the 21st of March 2020”.

A stakeholders meeting between the company, workers unions and fishermen affected by Samherji's withdrawal from Namibia is scheduled for Friday, to map out the way forward on how Saga Seafood will accommodate the affected staff.

Author:  Ester Mbathera / The Namibian

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