Page 14 - Professorial Lecture - Prof Omoregie

The world’s marine fisheries increased markedly from 16.8 million tonnes in 1950
to a peak of 86.4 million tonnes in 1996, and then declined before stabilizing at
about 80 million tonnes (FAO, 2012b). Global recorded production was 77.4
million tonnes in 2010 (with Namibia contributing 370,000 tonnes of this value).

A large number of Distant Water Fishing Nations (DWFNs) used to fish off Namibia
when the country was under South African rule and the 200-mile EEZ had not
been declared. More than 300 mid-water and bottom trawl vessels operated off
the coast. Soon after independent, the government of Namibian announced the
EEZ regime in 1990, there was a more than 90 per cent drop in the number of
unlicensed foreign vessels fishing in the area.

Most commercially exploited species are currently nowhere near as abundant as
they have been in the past (before independence). Unfavorable environmental
conditions have usually accompanied these reductions in numbers, and there is
evidence of cyclical booms and crashes in pilchard and anchovy populations,
which had dominated the commercial fisheries.

Director of ceremonies, Ladies and Gentlemen, since independence, Namibia’s
marine sector has evolved to a stage where fisheries and other marine resources
are harvested in a sustainable and responsible manner as enshrined in the
country’s Constitution. Today, Namibia boasts one of the world’s well-managed
and balanced fishing sector.

A good example of the result of well managed fishery is the recovery of the
shallow-water Cape hake (Merluccius capensis) and the deep-water hake
(Merluccius paradoxus) stocks. This results from Government introduction of
various strategies in 2006.

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